Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Pinaceae

Abies densa

by GP Jürgens

Griff.

Bhutan2015 402
Bhutan Tumching-La 4000m, October
Bhutan2014 420 ergebnis
Bhutan Jakar 2400m, May
Sikkim 2006 82 ergebnis
Sikkim, West-Bengal Kalipokhri 3100m, May

Description

Abies densa, the Bhutan or eastern Himalayan fir, is a large evergreen conifer of the eastern Himalaya, ranging through Bhutan, Sikkim and adjacent India, eastern Nepal, southern China and northern Myanmar (gbif_countries: BT, IN, CN, NP, MM, CA, ZZ, BE), with about 192 GBIF occurrences. It is the dominant tree of the upper subalpine forest belt, forming dense stands often mixed with Rhododendron, birch and juniper and grading into the treeline krummholz. The illustrated records span Jakar in Bhutan at about 2400 m up to Tumching-La near 4000 m and Kalipokhri in the Sikkim–West Bengal borderland at about 3100 m, documenting its occupation of the cool, humid, high-montane to subalpine zone.

The tree reaches considerable height with a straight bole and conical crown, bearing horizontally spreading branches. The needle-like leaves are arranged spirally but pectinately spread, linear and flattened, dark green and glossy above with two whitish stomatal bands beneath, and notched or rounded at the apex. The pollen cones are small and lateral; the seed cones are erect, cylindrical, dark violet to blue-black when young, and, as in all firs, disintegrate on the tree at maturity to release winged seeds, leaving the persistent central axis standing.

Closely allied to Abies spectabilis of the western Himalaya, A. densa is sometimes treated as its eastern vicariant, the two replacing one another along the range. It is an ecologically important timber and watershed species and a keystone of subalpine forest. Though still locally abundant, its treeline populations are sensitive to climate shifts and grazing, and it is assessed as of Least Concern overall while warranting monitoring at range margins.

Author: Griff. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Farjon's A Handbook of the World's Conifers, IUCN Red List conifer assessments

Ranunculaceae

Aconitum heterophylloides

by GP Jürgens

Stapf

Bhutan2012 177
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3500m September
Bhutan2012 327
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3200m September

Description

Aconitum heterophylloides is an eastern Himalayan monkshood distributed across Nepal, India, Bhutan and adjacent China, a comparatively narrowly known species with around 68 GBIF occurrences. It grows in subalpine and alpine habitats, on open grassy slopes, scrub margins, forest clearings and damp meadows in the upper temperate to subalpine zone, flowering late in the season. The images document it in Bhutan in the Haar Valley at about 3500 m and at Dochu-La near 3200 m, both in September, when its blue-purple hoods appear among the autumn meadow vegetation.

It is an erect perennial herb arising from paired tuberous roots, with a slender, often somewhat flexuous stem. The leaves are alternate, palmately divided into several lobes, the lower long-petiolate and the upper sessile, with the segments toothed. The inflorescence is a lax terminal raceme of zygomorphic flowers; the conspicuous perianth consists of petaloid sepals, the uppermost forming a tall, helmet- or hood-shaped galea that arches over the two concealed nectariferous petals. The flowers are violet-blue, and the fruit is a cluster of several many-seeded follicles.

Aconitum heterophylloides belongs to the large Sino-Himalayan radiation of the genus, which is taxonomically complex and includes many intergrading montane species; it is allied to the A. heterophyllum group. Like other monkshoods the plant contains diterpenoid alkaloids and is highly toxic, while the hooded flowers are adapted for buzz- and tongue-pollination by bumblebees foraging late in the alpine season. Several Himalayan Aconitum are heavily harvested for medicinal use, making range-restricted species potentially vulnerable to overcollection.

Author: Stapf · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Tamura's treatment of Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae

Aconitum lethale

by GP Jürgens

Griff.

Sikkim2003 440 P612
Sikkim Chopta Valley 3900m August
Sikkim2003 441 P613
Sikkim Chopta Valley 3900m August
Bhutan2012 39
Bhutan Shele-La, 3600m September
Bhutan2015 21
Bhutan2015 22
Bhutan Dochu-La 3000m, October
Bhutan2012 176
Bhutan Haar-Valley 3500m, September

Description

Aconitum lethale is an eastern Himalayan monkshood restricted to Nepal, India and Bhutan, with about 176 GBIF records concentrated in Sikkim and Bhutan. It is a plant of the upper subalpine and alpine zone, growing among tall-herb meadows, rhododendron and juniper scrub, and along moist, open slopes. The cited collections trace its habitat closely: the Chopta Valley in Sikkim at around 3900 m in August, and several Bhutanese sites including Shele-La at about 3600 m, the Haar Valley at 3500 m and Dochu-La near 3000 m, flowering from late summer into October. It favours cool, humid, well-drained mountain soils where the monsoon sustains lush herbaceous growth.

The plant is an erect perennial herb arising from tuberous roots, with a leafy stem bearing palmately divided, deeply lobed leaves whose segments are further incised. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme or panicle of the characteristic zygomorphic flowers, in which the upper sepal is enlarged into a tall, helmet-shaped or hooded galea concealing two long-clawed nectaries; the flowers are typically deep blue to violet. Numerous stamens surround several free carpels, which ripen into a cluster of dehiscent follicles releasing winged or angular seeds.

Described by Griffith, A. lethale is, as both its epithet and generic affinity warn, intensely poisonous, containing diterpenoid alkaloids of the aconitine type throughout the plant and especially in its tubers. Such alkaloids underlie the cautious medicinal use of Himalayan aconites in traditional pharmacopoeias. As a narrow-range endemic of the eastern Himalaya, it warrants attention to grazing pressure and habitat change, though it remains locally frequent within its restricted distribution.

Author: Griff. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Tamura's treatment of Aconitum

Polygonaceae

Aconogonum campanulatum 

by GP Jürgens

(Hook.f.) H.Hara

Sikkim2003 70 P95
Sikkim Choka 2900m, August

Description

Aconogonum campanulatum, treated by GBIF as a synonym of the accepted Aconogonon campanulatum, is a Sino-Himalayan perennial herb distributed from Nepal and northern India through Sikkim and Bhutan into Myanmar and south-western China. Its 372 GBIF records lie mostly within this native range, with scattered European, North and South American and New Zealand points reflecting cultivated and herbarium material. It grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, forest clearings, shrubberies and along streamsides and banks, commonly between about 2700 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Choka in Sikkim at 2900 m in August captures it flowering in moist, herb-rich montane vegetation during the monsoon.

It is a robust, branching perennial arising from a woody rootstock, with erect leafy stems. The leaves are alternate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, often somewhat cordate to rounded at the base and acuminate at the apex, frequently white-tomentose beneath, with membranous sheathing ochreae at the nodes. The flowers are borne in lax, branched, paniculate inflorescences; each has a five-parted, campanulate, white to pinkish perianth (the source of the epithet), with eight stamens and a trifid style. The fruit is a small, trigonous, shining brown nut.

The species belongs to Aconogonon (often spelled Aconogonum), a segregate of the broadly defined Polygonum embracing the alpine knotweeds, and the accepted name is Aconogonon campanulatum. Its woody rootstock and tall leafy habit suit the tall-herb communities of moist Himalayan slopes. Widely distributed and locally abundant, it is of no conservation concern and forms a conspicuous element of subalpine meadow vegetation.

Author: (Hook.f.) H.Hara · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Ranunculaceae

Actaea elata

by GP Jürgens

Prantl

Sikkim2003 477 P662
Sikkim Lachung Valley 3300m, August

Description

Actaea elata Prantl is a tall woodland perennial of cool-temperate forests. The GBIF record (CN, IN and several extralimital codes including US, CA, RU, CO and ZZ, totalling 844 occurrences) reflects a mixture of Asian native material and considerable confusion with the North American A. elata (Nutt.) Prantl, a name applied on both continents; in the Himalayan context the plant occupies shaded, humus-rich Abies–Betula and mixed broad-leaved forest, streamsides and tall-herb communities. The illustrated specimen from the Lachung Valley in northern Sikkim at 3300 m, in August, sits squarely within this moist montane forest zone, flowering and fruiting during the late monsoon.

The species grows from a stout rhizome, producing erect stems to well over a metre. The leaves are large, alternate and 2–3-ternately compound, the ultimate leaflets ovate, acuminate and sharply serrate to incised. Flowers are borne in elongate terminal and axillary racemes; they are small, white and apetalous in effect, the petaloid sepals soon caducous and the conspicuous part being the numerous slender white stamens, giving a fluffy aspect typical of baneberries. The pistils mature into several-seeded follicles or, in the strict baneberry sense, fleshy berries, the dispersal unit varying with the taxonomic circumscription applied.

Actaea, here treated to include the segregate Cimicifuga, belongs to subfamily Ranunculoideae; the inclusion of Cimicifuga within Actaea is supported by molecular phylogenetics. As in many Ranunculaceae the plants contain bioactive triterpene glycosides, conferring toxicity and underpinning medicinal use. The taxon is widespread and not threatened, though the transcontinental nomenclatural overlap means GBIF distributional data require critical evaluation.

Author: Prantl · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Ranunculaceae), Flora of Bhutan, Compton & Culham monograph of Actaea s.l. (incl. Cimicifuga)

Actinidiaceae

Actinidia callosa

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bh09 44 P81
Bhutan Paro 2500m, June

Description

Actinidia callosa Lindl. is a woody climber of the Actinidiaceae, the kiwifruit family, distributed widely through the Himalaya and East and Southeast Asia. GBIF (about 3,400 occurrences) records it from China, Taiwan, Nepal, India, Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bhutan and Indonesia, where it scrambles through montane broad-leaved and mixed forest, along forest margins, thickets and stream banks. It occupies a broad temperate to warm-temperate belt; the plant photographed at Paro in Bhutan at 2,500 m in June illustrates its flowering in mid-elevation forest, where it climbs over shrubs and trees for support.

The plant is a deciduous, twining liana with terete, lenticellate stems and a pith that is typically lamellate (chambered) or solid, a diagnostic character within the genus. Leaves are alternate, long-petiolate, ovate to elliptic, with finely serrate margins bearing callose-tipped teeth, the feature giving the epithet "callosa"; the lower surface is often glabrous to sparsely hairy with conspicuous venation. The flowers are borne in axillary cymes, are usually functionally unisexual (the plants more or less dioecious), and have white to greenish-white petals; the numerous stamens bear dark anthers, and the superior ovary develops many styles. The fruit is a many-seeded berry, ovoid to oblong, greenish to brownish and spotted, edible though far smaller than the cultivated kiwifruit.

Actinidia callosa is a polymorphic species with several recognised varieties differing in leaf indumentum, dentition and fruit characters, and it belongs to the same genus as the commercial kiwifruit (A. deliciosa and A. chinensis), making the wild Himalayan members of interest as genetic resources. Ecologically it is a characteristic forest liana, its berries dispersed by birds and mammals, and it contributes to the structural complexity of mid-montane Asian forests.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 12, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Li, Li & Soejarto: Actinidiaceae in Flora of China

Campanulaceae

Adenophora khasiana

by GP Jürgens

(Hook. f. & Thomson) Collett & Hemsl.

Bhutan2012 517
Bhutan Wangdi 2700m, September
Bhutan2012 518
Bhutan Wangdi 2700m, September

Description

Adenophora khasiana is a Sino-Himalayan ladybell distributed from the eastern Himalaya through northeastern India (including the Khasi Hills, source of the epithet), Bhutan and Myanmar into southern China, with scattered records elsewhere reflecting herbarium and cultivated material; GBIF documents some 327 occurrences. It is a plant of the temperate montane belt, occurring on grassy banks, forest margins, scrub and open rocky slopes, as recorded near Wangdi in Bhutan at 2700 m. Flowering in late summer and autumn (September), it favours well-drained, sunny to lightly shaded sites within the broadleaved and mixed forest zone.

It is an erect perennial herb arising from a thickened, fleshy taproot, the stems simple or sparingly branched and exuding milky latex when broken, as is characteristic of the family. The leaves are alternate, sessile or short-petiolate, ovate to lanceolate and toothed along the margin. The flowers are borne in a lax terminal panicle or raceme; the corolla is campanulate to broadly funnel-shaped and blue to pale violet, with five short lobes. Diagnostic for the genus is the tubular nectary disc surrounding the base of the style, and the elongate style that is usually exserted beyond the corolla. The fruit is a capsule dehiscing by basal pores to shed numerous small seeds.

The species was transferred to Adenophora by Collett & Hemsley from a basionym of Hooker f. & Thomson. Adenophora is distinguished from the closely related Campanula primarily by its conspicuous cylindrical nectariferous disc at the base of the style, a key character in the taxonomy of the Campanulaceae. The protandrous, nectar-rich flowers attract bees and other long-tongued insects. The fleshy roots of several Adenophora species are used in East Asian herbal medicine. Widespread and locally common, A. khasiana is not considered threatened.

Author: (Hook. f. & Thomson) Collett & Hemsl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Hong's monograph of the genus Adenophora (Campanulaceae)

Ranunculaceae

Adonis davidii

by GP Jürgens

Franch.

Bhutan2014 981
Bhutan2014 521
Bhutan2014 520
Bhutan Chele-La 4000m, May
Bh2008 15 P25
Bhutan Thimphu-Chu, 2800m April
Bh2008 304 G469
Bhutan Thimphu-Chu, 2800m April
Bh2008 305 G471
Bhutan Ura 3400m, April

Description

Adonis davidii is a perennial herb of the eastern Himalaya and southwestern China, with GBIF records (462 occurrences) concentrated in China and Bhutan. It grows in cool, shaded habitats: coniferous and mixed forest understorey, forest margins, shrubberies and damp meadows, generally between 2500 and 4000 m. The Bhutanese gatherings figured here span this range, from Thimphu-Chu at 2800 m and Ura at 3400 m in April to Chele-La at 4000 m in May, illustrating its early-spring to early-summer flowering as snow retreats and its preference for moist, humus-rich montane soils in partial shade.

The plant arises from a short, thickened rhizome bearing fibrous roots, producing erect or ascending stems 15-50 cm tall that are usually simple or sparingly branched. The leaves are alternate, sessile or shortly petiolate, and several times ternately or pinnately dissected into narrow, linear-lanceolate ultimate segments, giving a finely divided, fern-like aspect. The solitary terminal flowers are white, often tinged blue, lilac or pink, with numerous spreading petaloid sepals (the true perianth) surrounding a central cluster of yellow stamens and free carpels. The fruit is an aggregate of numerous obovoid, wrinkled achenes, each tipped by a short persistent style.

Adonis (Ranunculaceae) is a chiefly Eurasian genus distinguished by its many free achenes and showy perianth; like many congeners A. davidii contains cardioactive compounds and should be regarded as toxic. Within the genus it belongs to the white-flowered perennial assemblage centred on China. It is not currently considered threatened, being locally frequent across an extensive forest range, though it depends on intact montane forest cover and is therefore sensitive to logging and habitat fragmentation.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Monograph of the Genus Adonis (Ranunculaceae)

Orobanchaceae

Aeginetia indica

by GP Jürgens

L.

Bhutan2012 456
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m, September
Nepal 95 63 P106 ergebnis
Nepal below Barphak 1400m October

Description

Aeginetia indica is a widespread holoparasitic herb of tropical and subtropical Asia, recorded from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and across South and Southeast Asia including India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, the Malesian region and beyond; with about 3514 GBIF records it is by far the most frequently collected species in this group. It is a root parasite of grasses and other monocots, occurring in moist forest, grassland, scrub, plantations and field margins from the lowlands up into the lower hills, generally below about 2500 m. The plants illustrated, from Wangdi in Bhutan at around 2500 m in September and below Barphak in Nepal at about 1400 m in October, span this elevational range.

Lacking chlorophyll, the plant is reduced to fleshy, scale-like leaves on a very short underground stem attached to the host roots. The conspicuous part is the flower, borne singly atop a long, stout, purplish or yellowish scape; it is a large, tubular, somewhat curved corolla coloured deep purple to magenta with a paler throat, the five lobes short and the mouth oblique, subtended by a boat-shaped spathe-like calyx. There are four stamens and a superior ovary that ripens into a many-seeded capsule shedding the dust-like seeds characteristic of parasitic plants.

Now placed in the broadened Orobanchaceae following the merger of the old Scrophulariaceae-derived parasites, Aeginetia is an Asian genus of obligate root parasites, and A. indica is notable as a parasite of sugarcane and other grasses, where it can be a minor agricultural pest. Its enormous seed output and broad host and geographic range make it ecologically successful and of no conservation concern. The species is also used in traditional medicine across parts of its range.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Nickrent Parasitic Plant Genera of the World

Ericaceae

Agapetes serpens

by GP Jürgens

(Wight) Sleumer

Bhutan2014 476
Bhutan Tongsa 2000m, May
Sikkim2004 95 P165
India West-Bengal, Bersay 2700m April
Nepal 97 309 P613
Nepal Honggaon 2360m May
Nepal1992 156 P228 ergebnis
Nepal Simbua-Khola 1800m March 

Description

Agapetes serpens is an eastern Himalayan epiphytic shrub distributed across India, Bhutan, Nepal and adjacent China, with around 267 GBIF occurrences; long cultivated for its pendulous flowers, it is recorded in glasshouse collections from Great Britain, Germany, the United States and New Zealand. It grows in humid temperate broad-leaved and mixed forest, perched on mossy tree trunks, branches and shaded rock faces. The images document it across a broad elevational span: Bhutan at Tongsa around 2000 m in May, West Bengal at Bersay near 2700 m in April, and Nepal at Honggaon (2360 m) and the lower Simbua-Khola valley (1800 m).

It is a scrambling to pendent evergreen shrub arising from a swollen, tuberous, woody rootstock, with long arching, bristly-hairy stems. The leaves are small, numerous, lanceolate to elliptic, leathery and arranged distichously along the stems. The flowers hang in profusion from the leaf axils on slender pedicels; the corolla is tubular, five-angled, bright red and marked with darker chevron- or V-shaped lines, with five short reflexed lobes. The stamens are included and the ovary inferior. The fruit is a small fleshy berry.

Agapetes belongs to tribe Vaccinieae of the Ericaceae, the group that includes the blueberries, and the genus is centred on the Sino-Himalayan and Southeast Asian mountains. The tuberous lignotuber is an adaptation to the epiphytic habit, storing water and nutrients, while the tubular red flowers are adapted to bird pollination. Valued as an ornamental, A. serpens is widely grown; in the wild it is locally frequent and not currently regarded as threatened.

Author: (Wight) Sleumer · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Airy Shaw revision of Agapetes