Tag:

Spring

Linaceae

Reinwardtia indica 

by GP Jürgens

Dumort.

Nepal 2001 457 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Gunda 1700m, May

Description

Reinwardtia indica Dumort., the yellow flax, is a subshrub of the flax family widely distributed through the Himalaya and the mountains of southern China and Southeast Asia. GBIF documents it in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, China, Myanmar and Thailand, with numerous extralimital records reflecting its frequent cultivation as an ornamental. It grows on shaded banks, forest margins, hillside scrub and roadside slopes in the subtropical to lower temperate zone, generally between about 800 and 2,300 m. The plant from Gunda in the Gorkha district of Nepal at 1,700 m, flowering in May, is typical of its hill-forest habitat, though it also flowers conspicuously in the cooler months.

The species is a low, much-branched perennial subshrub to about 1 m tall with slender, glabrous green stems. The leaves are alternate, elliptic to obovate, entire or minutely toothed, with small caducous stipules. The bright golden-yellow flowers are borne singly or in few-flowered axillary and terminal clusters; each has five sepals, five large obovate petals that are fugacious (lasting only a day), and stamens united below into a tube with alternating staminodes. The fruit is a septicidal capsule splitting into several one-seeded segments.

Reinwardtia is a small genus of one or two species closely allied to Linum, distinguished by its woody habit and persistent yellow flowers. R. indica is much grown in gardens and is used in folk medicine and as a dye source. It is widespread, frequently semi-naturalised through cultivation, and of no conservation concern.

Author: Dumort. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Pakistan, Mildbraed: Linaceae in Das Pflanzenreich

Araceae

Remusatia pumila

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) H.Li & A.Hay

Bhutan2012 715
Bhutan Galephu 850m, October
Nepal 1994 228 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola 1900m April 

Description

Remusatia pumila (D.Don) H.Li & A.Hay is a small tuberous aroid of the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burmese region, documented by about 269 records spanning India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, with naturalised reports elsewhere. It grows as a lithophyte and epiphyte on mossy rocks, boulders and tree trunks in humid broad-leaved and subtropical forest, favouring shaded, seepage-moistened microsites. The cited gatherings from Galephu in southern Bhutan at 850 m in October and the Mewa Khola of East Nepal at 1900 m in April reflect its span across the warm-temperate to subtropical foothill belt.

The plant is a diminutive geophyte arising from a small subglobose tuber that produces clusters of bulbil-bearing structures. The leaves are few, with slender petioles and ovate to ovate-cordate, peltate or sagittate blades. As in all Remusatia, vegetative reproduction is conspicuous: erect to spreading bulbiliferous shoots bear numerous hooked, scale-covered bulbils that detach and disperse epizoochorously. The inflorescence is a spathe enclosing a spadix with basal female and upper male flower zones separated by sterile flowers; flowering is comparatively infrequent relative to the prolific bulbil production.

The species was long placed in Gonatanthus, a genus now subsumed within Remusatia, the combination reflecting molecular and morphological reassessment of the tribe Colocasieae. Reliance on hooked bulbils for dispersal by passing animals is a key adaptation to its epilithic and epiphytic, often ephemerally exposed habitats. Widespread and locally frequent, it is not considered threatened, though its dependence on undisturbed humid forest links its persistence to lowland and submontane habitat integrity.

Author: (D.Don) H.Li & A.Hay · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Araceae of the Indian subcontinent / monograph of Remusatia and Colocasieae

Araceae

Remusatia vivipara

by GP Jürgens

(Roxb.) Schott

Bhutan2015 106 1
Bhutan Galephug 600m, October
Nepal 1994 223 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola 1900m April 

Description

Remusatia vivipara (Roxb.) Schott is a widespread tuberous aroid of the Old World tropics, the most broadly distributed member of its genus, with nearly 790 records spanning the Himalaya and India, China and Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia, tropical Africa and Madagascar, and Arabia, plus naturalised occurrences elsewhere. It is chiefly an epiphyte and lithophyte on mossy tree trunks, cliffs and boulders in humid forest, descending into shaded ravines and persisting in disturbed semi-shade. The cited gatherings from Galephug in southern Bhutan at 600 m in October and the Mewa Khola of East Nepal at 1900 m in April span its lowland-to-submontane range.

The plant grows from a small depressed-globose tuber that gives rise annually to one or few leaves and to the conspicuous bulbiliferous shoots characteristic of the genus. The leaf blade is ovate to ovate-cordate and peltate, on a long sheathing petiole. Dispersal is dominated by erect, spike-like bulbil-bearing axes densely set with small, scale-covered bulbils armed with recurved hooks that catch on the fur and feathers of passing animals. Flowering, where it occurs, produces a spathe with a basal convolute tube and expanded limb, subtending a spadix with separate female and male zones; sexual reproduction is much less frequent than vegetative propagation.

The extraordinary pantropical range of R. vivipara is largely attributable to this epizoochorous bulbil dispersal, supplemented by human movement of ornamental and tuber stock. Its placement in Colocasieae, near Colocasia and Gonatanthus, has been confirmed by molecular work. The species is common, ecologically plastic and locally weedy, and is of no conservation concern; in cultivation it is valued as a curious bulbil-producing aroid.

Author: (Roxb.) Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, monograph of Remusatia and tribe Colocasieae

Araceae

Rhaphidophora decursiva

by G & P Jürgens

(Roxb.) Schott

Sikkim 2006 487 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Ruigi-Chu 1800m, May
Bhutan2015 147
Bhutan Galephug 800m, October

Description

Rhaphidophora decursiva ((Roxb.) Schott) is a robust root-climbing aroid widely distributed across tropical and subtropical Asia, ranging from the eastern Himalaya and northeast India through Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and southern China to Sri Lanka and the Malay region. The roughly 700 GBIF records confirm a strong concentration in the Indo-Burmese hill forests. It is a hemiepiphyte of humid evergreen and semi-evergreen broad-leaved forest, climbing tree trunks and clambering over rocks in shaded, moist ravines from near sea level to about 2,000 m. The cited material from Ruigi-Chu in West Bengal at 1,800 m in May and from Galephug, Bhutan, at 800 m in October illustrates its wide altitudinal amplitude across the Himalayan foothills.

The plant produces stout, scandent stems that cling by abundant clasping adventitious roots, the internodes green to brownish and somewhat flattened against the support. The leaves are large and long-petiolate, the lamina ovate-oblong in juveniles but becoming deeply pinnatifid in adults, divided almost to the midrib into numerous decurrent segments that give the species its epithet. The inflorescence is a cylindrical spadix subtended by a thick, boat-shaped, yellowish to greenish spathe; the flowers are bisexual and naked, lacking a perianth, and the infructescence ripens into a dense cluster of berries.

The genus Rhaphidophora belongs to the tribe Monstereae and is distinguished from the Neotropical Monstera by its Old World distribution and bisexual flowers. R. decursiva is among the most widespread members of the genus and shows considerable leaf heteroblasty between juvenile shingling and mature pinnatifid stages. Locally the plant is used in traditional medicine and is occasionally grown as a foliage ornamental. It is common and not regarded as threatened.

Author: (Roxb.) Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 23, Boyce & Croat: The Überlist of Araceae (Monstereae)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron arboreum

by GP Jürgens

Sm.

Bh2008 31 G54
Bhutan
Nepal1992 220 P322 ergebnis
Nepal Nundhaki 1400m March 
Nepal1992 228 P337 ergebnis
Nepal Nundhaki 1400m March 
Nepal1992 237 P348 ergebnis
Nepal Nundhaki 1400m March 

Description

Rhododendron arboreum is the tree rhododendron of the Himalaya and the broader Indian subcontinent, ranging from Pakistan through India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar into southwestern China, with a notable disjunct presence in the hills of Sri Lanka; widely cultivated, it appears in GBIF from many temperate countries and totals nearly 3000 occurrences. It is the most familiar species of the genus across its native range, growing in temperate broadleaved and oak-laurel forest, on hill slopes and in scrub, here recorded at Nundhaki in Nepal at 1400 m and in Bhutan. Spanning a broad elevational band, it flowers conspicuously in late winter and spring (March), painting Himalayan hillsides crimson.

It is an evergreen shrub or tree reaching 10-20 m, with a gnarled trunk and rough, flaking bark. The leaves are leathery, oblanceolate to elliptic, dark glossy green above and clothed beneath with a dense silvery, fawn or rusty indumentum that varies between subspecies. The flowers are massed in dense, rounded, terminal trusses of 15-20; each corolla is tubular-campanulate, 3-5 cm long, ranging from deep blood-red through pink to white, the throat marked with darker nectar spots. Stamens are typically 10, and the ovary tomentose with a long style. The fruit is a curved, woody, ribbed capsule splitting to release numerous small winged seeds.

Described by James Edward Smith, the species belongs to subgenus Hymenanthes, subsection Arborea, and is highly variable, with several recognised subspecies (e.g. subsp. cinnamomeum, subsp. nilagiricum, subsp. zeylanicum) differing in leaf indumentum and altitude. It is the national flower of Nepal (lali gurans) and the state tree of Uttarakhand, and the nectar-rich corollas are sought by sunbirds and bees, with the flowers used to make a local beverage. Although widespread and not globally threatened, lower-elevation populations face pressure from fuelwood harvesting, grazing and forest conversion.

Author: Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Cullen & Chamberlain monograph)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron arboreum subst. cinnamomeum

by GP Jürgens

(Wall. ex G. Don) Tagg.

Bhutan2014 370
Bhutan Jakar 3900m, May
Nepal 97 225 G465
Nepal Thudam 3850m April
Nepal 1994 286 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 3100m May 

Description

Rhododendron arboreum var. cinnamomeum (Wall. ex G. Don) Tagg is a high-elevation race of the widespread tree rhododendron distributed across the eastern and central Himalaya, with records concentrated in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and adjacent China. It occupies the upper temperate to subalpine belt, typically between 3000 and 3900 m, forming dense thickets and the canopy of mossy fir-rhododendron forest. The photographed populations span this range, from Bhutan's Jakar valley at 3900 m and Nepal's remote Thudam at 3850 m to the Milka-Danda ridge of eastern Nepal at 3100 m, all flowering between April and May as the snow retreats. It thrives on acidic, humus-rich soils on cool, north-facing slopes with high atmospheric humidity.

This variety is a shrub or small gnarled tree distinguished from typical R. arboreum by the dense, persistent indumentum on the lower leaf surface. The leathery, oblong-lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves are dark green and rugose above, while beneath they bear a thick, felted, cinnamon- to rust-brown tomentum (the source of the epithet cinnamomeum). Flowers are borne in compact, rounded terminal trusses; the campanulate corolla, ranging from deep blood-red through pink to occasional white, has dark nectar pouches and conspicuous spotting on the upper lobes. The fruit is a woody, curved, dehiscent capsule releasing numerous minute winged seeds.

Taxonomically the taxon sits within the polymorphic R. arboreum complex (subgenus Hymenanthes), where the white-flowered, heavily indumented high-altitude plants have at times been treated as a distinct subspecies. The species is the national flower of Nepal and a foundational element of Himalayan cloud-forest ecosystems, supporting sunbirds and other nectarivores as pollinators. While not globally threatened, upper-montane var. cinnamomeum populations are sensitive to grazing, fuelwood collection and climate-driven treeline shifts.

Author: (Wall. ex G. Don) Tagg. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Rhododendron (Cox & Cox), Rhododendrons of the Himalaya (Tagg)

Ericaceae

Rhododendron argipeplum

by GP Jürgens

Balf. f. & R.E. Cooper

Bhutan2014 445
Bhutan Yatong-La 3200m, May

Description

Rhododendron argipeplum Balf.f. & R.E.Cooper is an eastern Himalayan species of restricted distribution; GBIF records (about 77 occurrences) come from Bhutan, neighbouring northeastern India and adjacent China. It is a shrub or small tree of the cool-temperate forest belt, growing in mixed broad-leaved and conifer forest, rhododendron thickets and along ridges and ravines, generally between about 2700 and 3600 m. The individual photographed at Yatong-La in Bhutan at 3200 m in May, flowering as the higher passes thaw, is typical of its montane setting in the humid, cloud-influenced forests of the eastern range, where deep leaf litter and high atmospheric moisture prevail.

It forms a much-branched shrub up to several metres tall, the young shoots and petioles bristly-setose. The leaves are leathery and elliptic to oblong-ovate, dark green and glabrescent above, and clothed beneath with a thin, often bicoloured indumentum overlying a fawn-coloured felt. The flowers are borne in compact terminal trusses; the corolla is tubular-campanulate, fleshy, and deep red to crimson, usually with darker nectar pouches at the base. There are typically ten stamens, and the ovary bears a glabrous to setose style. The fruit is a woody, curved septicidal capsule splitting to release numerous small winged seeds.

The species belongs to subgenus Hymenanthes, subsection Barbata, a group of red-flowered, setose-stemmed Himalayan rhododendrons in which species delimitation has been debated; it has at times been confused with Rhododendron smithii and allies. Pollination of the showy red corollas is associated with birds and large bees. Owing to its limited eastern Himalayan range and dependence on intact temperate forest, the species is regionally restricted, and like many Bhutanese rhododendrons it is potentially vulnerable to forest clearance and to the pressures of climate change on the narrow montane belt it occupies.

Author: Balf. f. & R.E. Cooper · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, The Rhododendrons of Bhutan, Flora of China, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh revision of subgenus Hymenanthes

Ericaceae

Rhododendron baileyi

by GP Jürgens

Balf. f.

Sikkim2011 204
Sikkim Lachung 3100m, June
Sikkim2011 205
Sikkim Lachung 3100m, June
Sikkim2004 435 P758
Sikkim/India Lachung 3600m May

Description

Rhododendron baileyi is a lepidote shrub of the eastern Himalaya, native to Sikkim and the rest of northern India, Bhutan and south-eastern Tibet in China, with the remaining GBIF records (Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Sweden, United States) reflecting its presence in cultivation. Its roughly 121 georeferenced records indicate a narrowly distributed but well-known garden plant. It grows in open subalpine forest, rocky slopes and rhododendron-dominated thickets at roughly 3000-4300 m. The Sikkim collections noted above, from the Lachung valley at 3100-3600 m in May and June, are characteristic of its montane habitat.

It is a small to medium evergreen shrub with scaly young shoots, the leaves elliptic to oblong, leathery and densely covered beneath with overlapping reddish-brown lepidote scales that give the undersurface a rusty, almost continuous coating. The flowers are borne in compact terminal clusters and are widely campanulate to saucer-shaped, deep reddish-purple to magenta, often darker-spotted within, with the corolla and the exserted stamens and style bearing scattered scales. The fruit is a small ovoid, scaly, septicidal capsule splitting to release numerous minute seeds.

Within the genus Rhododendron, R. baileyi belongs to the lepidote subgenus and is placed in subsection Baileya, a small group distinguished by its strongly flattened, overlapping leaf scales and richly coloured flat-faced flowers. Named for the explorer F. M. Bailey, it has been valued in horticulture since its introduction. Pollination is by bumblebees and other long-tongued insects of the high Himalaya. Although not broadly assessed, its limited natural range and dependence on intact subalpine shrubland make it locally sensitive to grazing, fire and forest disturbance.

Author: Balf. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Rhododendron (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) monograph

Ericaceae

Rhododendron barbatum

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex G. Don

Bhutan2014 592
Bhutan Gogona 2950m, May
Nepal 97 133 P245
Nepal Mewa-Khola 2800m April
Nepal1992 139 P199 ergebnis
Nepal Milka Danda 2800m March 
Nepal1992 47 P68 ergebnis
Nepal Milka Danda 2800m March 
Nepal1992 49 P73 ergebnis
Nepal Milka Danda 2800m March 

Description

Rhododendron barbatum is a tree-forming rhododendron of the central and eastern Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, India, China and Bhutan, with about 509 occurrence records (those reported from Britain, North America and Korea reflecting its long history in cultivation). It forms a major component of temperate broadleaf and conifer forests, often dominating moist, north-facing slopes and ridge crests, generally between about 2400 and 3700 m. The photographed plants—Gogona in Bhutan at 2950 m in May, and Mewa-Khola and Milka Danda in eastern Nepal at 2800 m in March and April—illustrate its early-spring flowering in these mid-montane forests.

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree with smooth, peeling, reddish-brown to purplish bark, a striking feature of mature trunks. Young shoots and petioles bear conspicuous stiff bristles, the "barbate" character giving the species its name. The leaves are leathery, oblong-elliptic to obovate, glabrous and dark green above and pale beneath. The flowers are borne in dense, rounded terminal trusses; the corolla is tubular-campanulate and a vivid blood-red, with darker nectar pouches at the base, and the calyx is enlarged and coloured. The fruit is a woody, curved, several-valved capsule releasing many minute seeds.

Rhododendron barbatum, described from Wallich's material by G. Don, belongs to subgenus Hymenanthes, the large-leaved "true" rhododendrons, and hybridises in cultivation with allied red-flowered species. Its early bloom is an important nectar source for high-altitude birds and insects. Although widespread and locally abundant, Himalayan forest rhododendrons face pressure from fuelwood cutting, grazing and a warming climate altering the temperate forest belt.

Author: Wall. ex G. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Ericaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grierson & Long Flora of Bhutan, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Revision of the Genus Rhododendron

Ericaceae

Rhododendron campanulatum

by GP Jürgens

D. Don

Sikkim2004 128 P223
Sikkim/India Singalila 2600m April
Nepal 97 229 P476
Nepal Thudam 3800m April
Nepal 97 239 W494
Nepal Thudam 3800m April
Nepal 2001 328 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal 2001 351 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal 2001 327 ergebnis ergebnis scaled
Nepal (Gorkha) Rupina-La 3250m, May

Description

Rhododendron campanulatum D. Don is an evergreen Himalayan shrub or small tree distributed through Nepal (NP), India (IN), Bhutan (BT) and southern China (CN), with GBIF logging 1357 occurrences plus numerous cultivated records from Britain, North America and Europe. It forms dense thickets at and above the temperate treeline, in subalpine fir and birch forest and on open alpine slopes. The image documents populations across its range: Singalila on the Sikkim-India ridge at 2600 m in April, Thudam in Nepal at 3800 m in April, and the Rupina-La in Gorkha at 3250 m in May, reflecting the species' role as a dominant of the upper forest belt.

The plant is a much-branched shrub with stout twigs and a characteristically thick, rufous indumentum of dendroid hairs on the lower leaf surface. The leaves are coriaceous, elliptic to oblong, dark green and glabrous above, the undersurface densely felted with cinnamon-brown to fawn tomentum. The flowers are borne in compact terminal trusses; each has a broadly campanulate corolla, pale lilac to rose-purple or whitish, often spotted within, with five lobes and ten stamens. The fruit is a curved, woody, septicidal capsule releasing numerous small winged seeds.

Rhododendron campanulatum belongs to subgenus Hymenanthes, the large-leaved tomentose-leaved alliance, and includes subsp. aeruginosum with strikingly glaucous young foliage. As a treeline dominant it strongly influences alpine ecology, and recent studies have documented its upslope migration and densification in response to warming, with implications for fragile alpine meadows. It is widely cultivated and has contributed to garden hybrids. The species remains common and is not considered threatened.

Author: D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Rhododendron monograph (Davidian; Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh revision)