Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne ovalis

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bhutan2012 468
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m, September

Description

Coelogyne ovalis Lindl. is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalaya and northern Southeast Asia, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, with cultivated records from Europe and North America, totalling some 235 occurrences. It grows as an epiphyte, and occasionally a lithophyte, on mossy trunks and rocks in humid evergreen and mixed montane forest, typically between about 1000 and 2500 m. The plant photographed near Wangdi in Bhutan at about 2500 m in September, at the close of the monsoon, represents the upper part of this range, where cool, perennially moist conditions favour the genus.

The species has a creeping rhizome bearing well-spaced, ovoid to oblong-cylindric pseudobulbs, each topped by two thin-textured, plicate, lanceolate to elliptic leaves that taper to a stalked base. The inflorescence arises from the apex of a developing or mature pseudobulb and carries one or a few comparatively large flowers in succession. The sepals and petals are narrow and pale yellowish to buff or olive-tinged; the broad three-lobed labellum is the showiest part, marked with rich brown to maroon blotches and bearing fringed keels along the disc, with erect lateral lobes flanking the column.

Coelogyne is a large Asian genus of subtribe Coelogyninae, and C. ovalis is placed in section Fuliginosae, characterised by successively produced, brown-marked flowers. It is reasonably widespread and is grown in cultivation, so it is not regarded as globally threatened, although wild populations are pressured by habitat loss and over-collection; like all orchids it is listed on CITES Appendix II. Its broad Indo-Himalayan to Sundaic range makes it a good example of the orchid connection between the Himalaya and Southeast Asia.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Pradhan Indian Orchids, Clayton monograph The Genus Coelogyne

Orchideaceae

Coelogyne punctulata

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Nepal 2001 237 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Niuli Kharka 2500m, May
Sikkim2004 334 G595 ergebnis
Sikkim Choka 3330m, April
Nepal 1994 288 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Milka-Danda 2850m, May 

Description

Coelogyne punctulata Lindl. is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalaya and neighbouring mountains, recorded from India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh (225 GBIF occurrences). It grows on mossy trunks and branches, and occasionally as a lithophyte on shaded rocks, in temperate broad-leaved and mixed forest, generally between 2000 and 3300 m. It was documented in Nepal at Niuli Kharka in Gorkha around 2500 m and at Milka-Danda in the east near 2850 m, both in May, and in Sikkim at Choka at 3330 m in April, reflecting the cool, humid mid-montane forests it favours.

It is a sympodial epiphyte with closely set, ovoid to oblong pseudobulbs borne on a creeping rhizome, each bearing one or two plicate, elliptic-lanceolate leaves narrowed to a petiole-like base. The inflorescence is a few-flowered raceme arising with the new growth. The flowers are white to pale cream, the elliptic sepals and narrower petals spreading, and the showy trilobed labellum marked with yellow or orange keels and reddish-brown to ochre spotting on the disc, the lateral lobes erect about the column. The fruit is a ribbed, dehiscent capsule releasing dust-fine seeds.

Coelogyne is a large Asian genus and C. punctulata sits within the section of small-flowered white-and-spotted species; it has at times been confused with the related C. nitida, a synonymy reflected in the original page reference. The deceptive, nectarless flowers are pollinated by bees, and the minute wind-dispersed seeds depend on mycorrhizal fungi for germination. As a forest epiphyte it is vulnerable to habitat loss and orchid collection, concerns shared across wild-harvested Coelogyne, and the genus is listed under CITES Appendix II.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya (King & Pantling), Coelogyne monograph (Clayton, The Genus Coelogyne)

Lamiaceae

Colquhounia coccinea

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bhutan2012 13
Bhutan Paro, 2300m September
Nepal 95 95 P164 ergebnis
Nepal Barphak 2000m October
Garw 2005 209 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Pana 2800m, September

Description

Colquhounia coccinea is a showy shrubby mint of the Himalaya and southwestern China. GBIF records it from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Thailand and Myanmar, with cultivated and introduced occurrences in Australia, Europe and North America, totalling around 670 records. It grows in open forest, scrub, thickets and along hill slopes and roadsides in the warm temperate zone, generally between 1500 and 3000 m. The populations illustrated were photographed at Paro in Bhutan (2300 m), Barphak in Nepal (2000 m) and Pana in Garhwal, India (2800 m), flowering in September and October, its characteristic autumn flowering season in the Himalayan foothills.

It is a robust, sprawling or semi-scandent shrub up to 2-3 m, the stems and foliage clothed in stellate or felted indumentum. The opposite leaves are ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, crenate-serrate and rugose, greyish-tomentose beneath. The flowers are borne in dense axillary cymose clusters; the curved, tubular, two-lipped corolla is brilliant scarlet to orange-red, well exserted from the calyx, with four didynamous stamens. The fruit is unusual among Lamiaceae in that the nutlets are winged, an adaptation favouring wind dispersal from the often steep slopes the plant occupies.

Colquhounia is a small Sino-Himalayan genus of subfamily Lamioideae, and the winged nutlets and tubular red corollas distinguish it within the family. The vivid scarlet, nectar-rich tubular flowers are adapted to bird pollination, notably by sunbirds, an uncommon strategy in the predominantly bee-pollinated mints. Long valued as an ornamental and frost-tender garden shrub, the species is widespread and locally common, and is not of conservation concern.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Phylogeny and classification of subfamily Lamioideae (Lamiaceae)

Corallodiscinae

Corallodiscus lanuginosus

by GP Jürgens

(Wall. ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt

Nepal 97 369 P725
Nepal Arun-Valley 1750m May
Nepal 99 927 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2750m, July

Description

Corallodiscus lanuginosus (Wall. ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt is a rosette-forming, rupicolous perennial of the Gesneriaceae, distributed across the Himalaya and southwest China. GBIF data (over 2,000 occurrences) record it from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Thailand, indicating a broad Sino-Himalayan range. It was photographed in Nepal in the Arun Valley (1,750 m, May) and at Roha in west Nepal (2,750 m, July), reflecting its occurrence on shaded, mossy cliff faces, rock crevices, and boulders in montane forest, generally between about 1,500 and 3,500 m where humidity is high.

The plant forms a compact basal rosette of leaves pressed against the rock surface. The leaves are obovate to elliptic, with a crenate margin, the upper surface dark green and rugose, the lower surface densely clothed in woolly, rusty to whitish hairs (hence "lanuginosus"). Slender, leafless scapes bear cymose clusters of flowers; the corolla is tubular-campanulate and bluish-violet to purple with a paler throat, with the slightly oblique limb and reduced fertile stamens typical of the genus. The fruit is a slender capsule.

Corallodiscus belongs to the Old World Gesneriaceae (subfamily Didymocarpoideae) and is closely allied to the lithophytic Himalayan radiation that includes Didymocarpus and allies; the input subtribe name reflects this placement. Many populations exhibit poikilohydric, resurrection-like desiccation tolerance, surviving dry periods on exposed rock and reviving with the monsoon. Widespread and locally common on cliffs, the species is not considered threatened.

Author: (Wall. ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Burtt: Studies in the Gesneriaceae of the Old World

Cornaceae

Cornus capitata

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

BhutanPG2011 45 1
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m June
Bh09 284 P467
Bhutan Paro 2300m June

Description

Cornus capitata Wall. is an evergreen dogwood of the Cornaceae native to the Himalaya and SW China, recorded from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China, and now widely cultivated and naturalised in temperate regions worldwide (Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), accounting for its very large tally of over 4,200 georeferenced records. In its native range it grows in montane evergreen and mixed broad-leaved forest, forest margins, ravines and open hillsides, generally between about 1,000 and 3,200 m. The photographed trees from Wangdi at about 2,500 m and Paro at about 2,300 m in Bhutan, flowering in June, are typical of its mid-montane habitat in the eastern Himalaya.

It is a small to medium evergreen tree or large shrub with leathery, opposite, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate leaves that are dark green above and pale or glaucous beneath, with arcuate lateral veins. The small four-merous flowers are densely aggregated into a globose head subtended by four (to six) large, showy, creamy-white to pale-yellow petaloid bracts that function as the display structure. After flowering the entire head develops into a fleshy, strawberry-like compound fruit, a syncarp of fused drupes, ripening crimson-red and edible.

Cornus capitata belongs to the bracteate, head-flowered group of dogwoods (subgenus Syncarpea / Dendrobenthamia), in which numerous flowers and their swollen receptacles coalesce into a single fleshy aggregate fruit. The conspicuous bracts attract pollinators, while the sweet syncarp is dispersed by birds and mammals. Widely grown as an ornamental for its bracts and fruit, the species is common and widespread and of no conservation concern, though it has become locally invasive in parts of its introduced range.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 14, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Xiang et al.: Phylogeny and classification of Cornus (2006)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis cashmeriana

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Nepal 99 132 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3800m, June
Garh 07 117 ergebnis
India Garhwal Meggu Kichatti 3400m, June

Description

Corydalis cashmeriana is a celebrated blue-flowered alpine herb of the western and central Himalaya. GBIF records place it in Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, with around 130 occurrences reflecting its distribution through the high mountains from Kashmir eastward. It grows on moist alpine meadows, turfy slopes, the margins of melting snowbeds and damp rocky ground, generally between roughly 3000 and 4500 m, where cool, well-watered summer conditions prevail. The photographed plants from south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at 3800 m and from Meggu Kichatti in Garhwal, India, at 3400 m, both flowering in June, illustrate its early-summer blooming in the subalpine to alpine belt as the snow retreats.

It is a low, tufted perennial herb arising from small, clustered tubers, producing a few erect, leafy stems. The leaves are mostly basal and long-petiolate, the blades much-divided and glaucous, the ultimate segments small and obovate. The inflorescence is a short terminal raceme of few flowers; each flower is strongly zygomorphic, with four petals of which the outer upper one is prolonged backwards into a slender, gently curved spur, the whole of an intense sky-blue to deep azure. The fruit is a narrow, elongate capsule dehiscing to release shining black seeds bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis is a very large genus of the Fumarioideae, here treated within the Papaveraceae, with its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalayan region. The intensely blue-flowered alpine species, of which C. cashmeriana is the type of much horticultural interest, are notoriously challenging in cultivation. The seed elaiosome promotes dispersal by ants, while the spurred flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bumblebees probing for nectar held in the spur.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China (Papaveraceae, Fumarioideae), The Genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis casimiriana 

by G & P Jürgens

Duthie & Prain ex Prain

Garw 2005 174 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Shertoli 3100m, September

Description

Corydalis casimiriana is a Himalayan herb distributed across the western and central ranges, recorded from India, Nepal, Pakistan, southern China and Bhutan (gbif_countries: IN, NP, PK, CN, BT), with some 192 GBIF occurrences. It occupies moist temperate to subalpine habitats, including shaded forest floors, mossy banks, boulder slopes and the margins of streams, where cool, humid conditions persist through the growing season. The illustrated collection comes from Shertoli in Garhwal, India, at about 3100 m in September, capturing the species in late-season flower as the monsoon recedes from the western Himalayan hills.

The plant is a slender, often glaucous annual or short-lived herb arising from a fine root system, with erect to ascending, somewhat brittle stems. The leaves are alternate and two- to three-times pinnately or ternately divided into small, narrow to obovate segments, giving a delicate, ferny aspect. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes and are markedly zygomorphic, each with four petals of which the upper bears a backward-projecting spur; the corolla is typically blue to purplish, sometimes paler. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule splitting to release small, shining seeds often bearing an elaiosome that promotes ant dispersal.

Corydalis is one of the largest genera in the fumitory alliance of Papaveraceae, exceptionally diverse in the Sino-Himalaya, and C. casimiriana belongs to its assemblage of slender, blue-flowered montane herbs. The genus is taxonomically complex, with many narrowly defined species, and accurate determination relies on flower and fruit detail. Widespread across the western and central Himalaya, the species is of no particular conservation concern.

Author: Duthie & Prain ex Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis filicina

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Nepal 99 889 ergebnis
Nepal Murwa 3360m, July

Description

Corydalis filicina is a Sino-Himalayan herb distributed across the central and eastern Himalaya, with verified occurrences in Nepal, Bhutan and south-western China (Xizang and adjacent provinces). Though comparatively few collections are catalogued (some 14 georeferenced occurrences), the species occupies a well-defined montane to subalpine belt. It favours cool, humid microhabitats — shaded ravines, mossy banks beneath shrubberies, conifer and Rhododendron forest margins, and damp rock crevices — typically between about 3,000 and 4,300 m. The plant photographed at Murwa, Nepal, at 3,360 m in July, illustrates its flowering during the monsoon season, when meltwater and rainfall sustain the moist soils it requires.

It is a slender, glabrous, often glaucous annual or short-lived perennial arising from a fibrous root system. The stems are erect to ascending, branched and rather weak. The leaves are notably finely dissected, two- to three-pinnate or pinnatisect into narrow, fern-like ultimate segments, a feature reflected in the epithet "filicina" (fern-like). The flowers are borne in lax terminal or leaf-opposed racemes; each zygomorphic flower is yellow, with the outer pair of the four petals forming a spur at the base and a galeate upper lip, in the characteristic Corydalis structure. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule containing small shining black seeds, generally bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis (subfamily Fumarioideae) is among the largest Himalayan genera, with intense diversification on the Tibetan Plateau and its margins. The fern-leaved species form a taxonomically intricate group requiring careful comparison of leaf division, raceme arrangement and capsule shape. No targeted conservation assessment exists; like many narrow-ranging Himalayan herbs it is potentially vulnerable to habitat disturbance and climate-driven upward shifts of subalpine vegetation.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Lidén & Zetterlund: Corydalis – A Gardener's Guide (1997)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis oligantha

by GP Jürgens

Ludlow & Stearn

Bh2008 36 P59
Bhutan Dochu-La 2850m, April

Description

Corydalis oligantha is an apparently Bhutanese endemic, the only GBIF records (about 6) deriving from Bhutan and described from there by Ludlow and Stearn. It is a plant of moist, shaded temperate habitats, growing on humus-rich banks, forest floors, mossy rock crevices and damp clearings, around 2800 to 3000 m. The specimen illustrated from Dochu-La in western Bhutan at 2850 m in April, flowering early in spring as the snow recedes, exemplifies its preference for cool, moisture-retentive woodland margins and its brief vernal growing season.

It is a slender, often glaucous herb with watery sap and a fleshy rootstock or small tuber. The leaves are alternate and finely dissected, ternately or pinnately compound into narrow segments, giving the delicate, fern-like aspect typical of the genus. The flowers, comparatively few in the lax raceme as the epithet oligantha (few-flowered) implies, are strongly zygomorphic: each has four petals, the upper one prolonged backwards into a conspicuous nectar spur, the inner pair coherent over the stamens and stigma, the colour generally yellow to purplish. The fruit is a slender, two-valved dehiscent capsule releasing several shining seeds, often bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis is an exceptionally large and taxonomically difficult genus that radiates spectacularly across the Sino-Himalaya, and narrow endemics such as C. oligantha contribute to Bhutan's distinctive alpine and temperate flora. The spurred, bilabiate flowers reflect specialised pollination by long-tongued bees, while seed elaiosomes promote ant dispersal. With an extremely restricted range and very few documented occurrences, this species is potentially of high conservation concern and would benefit from targeted survey and assessment.

Author: Ludlow & Stearn · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Ludlow & Stearn studies of Bhutan plants, Flora of China (Papaveraceae), Lidén & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis sikkimensis

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain) Fedde

Bh2008 379 G589
Bhutan Gogona 3200m, May

Description

Corydalis sikkimensis is an Eastern Himalayan endemic distributed across the high mountains of Sikkim and adjacent India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan and southern Xizang (China), with GBIF documenting 18 georeferenced collections from these four countries (IN, NP, BT, CN). It occupies the subalpine to lower alpine belt, typically between 3000 and 4000 m, growing in moist shaded conifer and Rhododendron forest margins, on humus-rich banks, beside snow-melt rivulets and among damp rocks. The photographed plant from Gogona in central Bhutan at about 3200 m in May illustrates its phenology, flowering with the early summer monsoon when soils are saturated and light is filtered through the forest canopy.

It is a slender, glabrous, glaucous perennial herb arising from a small fibrous-rooted or shortly tuberous rootstock. The erect to ascending stems bear thin, several-times ternately or pinnately divided leaves, the ultimate segments ovate to obovate and often shallowly lobed, the lower leaves long-petiolate. Flowers are borne in lax terminal racemes subtended by small entire or toothed bracts; each zygomorphic flower comprises four petals, the upper petal produced into a slender, somewhat curved or decurved spur, the inner petals connate at the apex and crested. The corolla is typically blue to purplish-blue. The fruit is a narrow dehiscent capsule containing small black shining seeds.

A member of the large and taxonomically intricate genus Corydalis (Papaveraceae, subfamily Fumarioideae), the species belongs to the predominantly Sino-Himalayan radiation centred on the eastern Himalaya and Hengduan Shan. Like many congeners it is pollinated by long-tongued bumblebees attracted to the spurred corolla, and its alkaloid-rich tissues are characteristic of the family. Though restricted in range, it occurs in remote, little-disturbed high-elevation habitats and is not presently regarded as threatened, but its narrow endemism makes it sensitive to climate-driven shifts in the alpine zone.

Author: (Prain) Fedde · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Monograph of the genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)