Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium kamaonense

by GP Jürgens

Huth

Nepal 95 120 P208 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3450m October

Description

Delphinium kamaonense is a Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan larkspur recorded by GBIF (839 occurrences) from China, Nepal, India and Bhutan. It is a plant of open subalpine and alpine habitats, growing on grassy slopes, among low scrub, on stony pastures and along rocky margins, generally between about 3000 and 4500 m. The individual photographed south of the Rupien La in Nepal at 3450 m in October exemplifies its late, post-monsoon flowering, when many high-altitude perennials complete their reproductive cycle before the onset of winter.

The species is a perennial herb arising from a fibrous or somewhat woody rootstock, with erect, slender stems that are often finely pubescent above. The leaves are alternate, long-petiolate below, with a palmately divided to deeply lobed blade whose segments are further cut into narrow ultimate lobes. The flowers are borne in a lax raceme or panicle and are strongly zygomorphic; the five petaloid sepals are deep blue to violet, the uppermost prolonged backwards into a conspicuous slender spur that encloses the nectariferous spurs of the two upper petals. The dark inner petals form a contrasting central eye. The fruit consists of several erect, many-seeded follicles.

Delphinium is a large northern-temperate genus well represented in the Himalaya, and D. kamaonense belongs to the assemblage of blue-flowered alpine larkspurs centred on the western and central ranges. The spurred flowers are adapted for pollination by long-tongued bumblebees capable of reaching the concealed nectar. Like most members of the genus the plant contains toxic diterpenoid alkaloids that deter grazing. The species is widespread within its high-elevation niche and is not currently considered to be at conservation risk.

Author: Huth · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Monograph of the Genus Delphinium (Munz)

Ranunculaceae

Delphinium ludlowii

by GP Jürgens

Munz

Sikkim2003 341 G480
Sikkim Choka 3200m August
Sikkim2003 342 P481
Sikkim Choka 3200m August

Description

Delphinium ludlowii Munz is a narrowly distributed alpine larkspur of the eastern Himalaya, known only from Bhutan and adjacent Nepal and Sikkim, where the very small number of records reflects both its restricted range and its remote, high-elevation habitat. It grows on open alpine and subalpine slopes, among rocks, in moist meadows and along the margins of scrub at the upper limits of vegetation. The photographed plant from Choka in Sikkim at 3200 m, flowering in August at the height of the monsoon growing season, illustrates its association with cool, humid, well-watered high-mountain sites where the snowmelt and summer rains sustain a brief but vigorous flowering period.

The plant is an erect perennial herb arising from a fibrous or somewhat tuberous rootstock, bearing palmately divided leaves whose segments are further cut into narrow lobes. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of characteristically spurred, zygomorphic flowers; the showy, petaloid sepals are blue to violet-blue, the uppermost prolonged backward into a conspicuous nectar spur, within which the smaller true petals are concealed. The fruit consists of several erect, many-seeded follicles typical of the genus, splitting along the inner suture to release the angular seeds.

Within the taxonomically intricate genus Delphinium, D. ludlowii belongs to the Sino-Himalayan alpine larkspurs and commemorates the collector Frank Ludlow, whose Bhutan expeditions yielded much of the type material. Like related montane species it is bumblebee-pollinated, the long spur matching its visitors, and all parts are toxic owing to diterpene alkaloids. Its very limited known range and few documented occurrences make it of conservation interest, dependent on intact alpine habitats in the eastern Himalaya.

Author: Munz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Ranunculaceae), Ludlow & Sherriff Himalayan collections, A Monograph of the Genus Delphinium (Munz)

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium aphyllum

by G & P Jürgens

C.E.C. Fisch.

Sikkim2011 17
Sikkim Lachen 2460m, June
Bhutan2014 703
Bhutan Wangdi Phodrang 2280m, May
BhutanPG2011 56 ergebnis
Bhutan Jakar, 20m June
Bhutan2014 702
Bhutan Jakar, 2600m June
Nepal 1994 8 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Tumlingtar 340m April

Description

Dendrobium aphyllum is a widespread epiphytic orchid of tropical and subtropical Asia, ranging from India and Nepal through southern China and across mainland Southeast Asia, with GBIF documenting occurrences from India, China, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos among many territories. It grows as an epiphyte, and sometimes a lithophyte, on tree trunks and rocks in warm, humid lowland and lower montane forest, enduring a distinct dry season during which the canes shed their leaves. It occupies low to middle elevations; the records span Tumlingtar in eastern Nepal at about 340 m to Sikkim's Lachen and Bhutanese sites up to roughly 2600 m, with the photographed material flowering from April through June across this broad altitudinal range.

The plant produces long, slender, pendulous cane-like stems that branch and trail from the host, leafy when young and largely leaf-shedding before flowering. The leaves are thin, lanceolate and deciduous. The flowers emerge in twos and threes from the nodes of the bare, hanging canes, fragrant and delicately coloured, with pale rose-pink to lilac sepals and petals. The labellum is broadly funnel-shaped to subobicular, cream to pale yellow and finely downy within, often marked with darker veining and rolled around the column to form a trumpet, the lower margin sometimes faintly fringed. The fruit is a pendent capsule.

D. aphyllum is placed in Dendrobium section Dendrobium and is characterised by its leafless flowering canes, as reflected in the epithet; it has accumulated synonymy and is sometimes confused with related pendent species such as D. primulinum and D. anosmum. Long cultivated as an ornamental and used in some traditional medicines, it remains common over much of its vast range, though localised populations are depleted by wild collection and lowland forest clearance.

Author: C.E.C. Fisch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, The Orchids of Bhutan (Pearce & Cribb), Dendrobium and its Allies (Lavarack et al.)

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium crispum

by GP Jürgens

Dalzell

Nepal 95 433 P754 ergebnis
Nepal Trisuli 2500m October
Nepal 95 434 P755 ergebnis
Nepal Trisuli 2500m October

Description

Dendrobium crispum, as applied here, is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalayan and Indo-Burmese region. Under current taxonomy the name Dendrobium crispum Dalzell is treated as a synonym, the accepted concept here being Dendrobium crispum (with the linked material referable to Dendrobium peguanum); GBIF records, though few, point to occurrence in India and adjacent Himalaya. It grows as an epiphyte on tree trunks and mossy branches in humid broadleaved and subtropical forest. The photograph was taken near Trisuli in Nepal at about 2500 m in October, indicating a montane forest habitat with seasonal monsoon moisture.

The plant forms clustered, slender, often pendent or ascending stems (pseudobulbs) bearing distichous, narrowly oblong to lanceolate leaves with sheathing bases. The flowers are small, borne in short few-flowered racemes from the upper nodes; the sepals and petals are pale, the lateral sepals forming a short mentum with the column foot, and the labellum is the most ornamented part of the flower, with a recurved, often crisped or fringed margin and a coloured, sometimes pubescent disc. The column is short, bearing a terminal anther with waxy pollinia, and the small fruit is a ribbed dehiscent capsule releasing dust-like seed.

Dendrobium is one of the largest orchid genera, and the taxonomy of small-flowered Himalayan species has been repeatedly revised, with several names entering synonymy as concepts were clarified, including the present one. Like most epiphytic orchids the species depends on mycorrhizal fungi for germination and on insect pollinators. All Dendrobium are listed on CITES Appendix II; the chief threats are forest clearance and collection for the horticultural trade.

Author: Dalzell · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Orchids of Nepal, CITES Appendix II listings, Seidenfaden's revisions of Asian Dendrobium

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium fuscescens

by GP Jürgens

Griff.

Bhutan2015 449
  Bhutan Jakar 2500m, October
Bhutan2015 450
  Bhutan Jakar 2500m, October
Bhutan2015 451
  Bhutan Jakar 2500m, October
Bhutan2012 1129
Bhutan Koma-Chu-Valley 950m, October
Bhutan2012 1131
Bhutan Koma-Chu-Valley 950m, October
Bhutan2012 1358
Bhutan Sandrup 1500m, October

Description

Dendrobium fuscescens Griff. is an epiphytic orchid of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Indo-Burmese region, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan across some 69 occurrences. It grows on the trunks and branches of trees in humid broad-leaved and mixed forests, ranging over a broad altitudinal span as shown by the Bhutanese records at Jakar around 2500 m, in the Koma-Chu valley near 950 m, and at Sandrup about 1500 m, all in October. This spread from warm temperate valleys to cooler montane forest reflects a tolerance of moist, shaded, mossy bark substrates with good air movement.

The plant produces clustered, slender, elongate cane-like pseudobulbous stems that are somewhat flattened and grooved, becoming yellowish with age. The thin-textured, lanceolate to oblong leaves are distichously arranged along the stems and are usually deciduous in the dry season, leaving the canes bare. Short lateral racemes of a few small flowers arise from nodes on the older leafless stems; the flowers are pale, often tinged greenish or brownish-yellow (the epithet fuscescens alluding to the darkening tint), with spreading lanceolate sepals and petals and a labellum bearing a hairy or papillose disc and recurved lateral lobes, the lateral sepals forming a short mentum at the column foot.

Dendrobium is one of the largest orchid genera, and D. fuscescens belongs among the slender deciduous-caned Himalayan species. It is poorly documented, with few georeferenced records, and like most epiphytic orchids it is sensitive to deforestation and collection. No formal assessment singles it out as threatened, but its dependence on intact forest canopy makes habitat protection important, and all Dendrobium are listed on CITES Appendix II.

Author: Griff. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, World Checklist of Dendrobium, Seidenfaden monograph of Orchids of Indochina

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium gibsonii

by GP Jürgens

Paxton

Bhutan2012 755
Bhutan Galephu 1000m, October
Bhutan2012 756
Bhutan Galephu 1000m, October
Bhutan2012 754
Bhutan Galephu 1000m, October
Bhutan2012 455
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m, September
Bhutan2012 1007
Bhutan Trithangebe 900m, October

Description

Dendrobium gibsonii is an epiphytic orchid widespread across the Sino-Himalayan and Indo-Chinese region, recorded from China, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos and Malaysia, with 87 GBIF occurrences mapping a broad subtropical to lower-montane distribution. It is an epiphyte of warm, seasonally moist evergreen and semi-deciduous forest, favouring well-lit branches where it endures a pronounced dry season. In Bhutan it was photographed across a notable altitudinal spread, from Galephu and Trithangebe at around 900-1000 m in October to Wangdi at 2500 m in September, illustrating its tolerance of both the hot southern foothills and cooler inner valleys.

The plant produces long, pendulous to arching, slender canes that are somewhat swollen and channelled, bearing distichous, oblong-lanceolate, deciduous leaves. The inflorescences arise laterally on the older leafless canes as short, pendent racemes of several golden-yellow flowers. The sepals and petals are spreading and orange-yellow, while the broad, rounded lip is conspicuously fringed at the margin and marked with a pair of dark maroon or purple-brown blotches in the throat, a diagnostic feature. The fruit is a pendulous ribbed capsule.

The species belongs to Dendrobium section Dendrobium (the so-called nobile alliance), characterised by leafy canes that flower from the nodes after leaf fall. Its showy fringed, blotched lip makes it horticulturally desirable, and wild collection for the ornamental trade adds to pressure from habitat loss across the foothill forests. Although the wide range buffers it against immediate extinction risk, like many Asian Dendrobium it is listed under CITES Appendix II to regulate international trade.

Author: Paxton · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Dendrobium and its Allies (Lavarack, Harris & Stocker)

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium hookerianum

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bhutan2012 439
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m, September
Bhutan2012 1256
Bhutan Trashigang 2000m, October
Bhutan2012 1257
Bhutan Trashigang 2000m, October

Description

Dendrobium hookerianum, Hooker's dendrobium, is an eastern Himalayan epiphytic orchid known from China, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, with 127 GBIF occurrences concentrated in the moist mid-montane forests of the region. It grows on tree trunks and branches in humid temperate broadleaved and conifer forest, broadly between about 1500 and 2500 m. The illustrated plants were recorded in Bhutan at Wangdi (Wangdue) at 2500 m in September and at Trashigang at 2000 m in October, autumn-flowering populations in mist-laden forest where cool nights and high humidity prevail.

The species forms long, pendent or arching, slender stems clothed in tubular sheaths and bearing many distichous, lanceolate, thin-textured leaves. From the upper nodes arise lateral racemes carrying several large, golden-yellow flowers. The spreading, elliptic sepals and broader petals are clear yellow, and the broad, suborbicular, fringed labellum is conspicuously marked with two deep maroon to blackish blotches on the disc and edged with a dense marginal fringe. The mentum is short, the column with a prominent foot, and the pollinia waxy.

Named in honour of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, the species belongs to Dendrobium section Dendrobium and is prized among Himalayan orchids for its showy fringed lip. Its restricted eastern Himalayan range, autumn flowering and ornamental appeal make it a target for collectors, and combined with ongoing forest clearance this renders wild populations vulnerable. International trade in the genus is regulated under CITES Appendix II.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Orchids of Bhutan, Dendrobium and its Relatives (Lavarack et al.)

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium longicornu

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bhutan2015 453
Bhutan Trontsa 2300m, October
Bhutan2012 441
Bhutan Wangdi 2600m, September
Bhutan2012 1331
Bhutan Pemagatse 2600m, September

Description

Dendrobium longicornu is an epiphytic orchid widespread across the eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burmese region, with GBIF recording over 300 occurrences and native range spanning India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand, besides cultivated records in Europe. It grows as an epiphyte on mossy trunks and branches in humid, temperate to subtropical broad-leaved forest, typically between about 1500 and 2700 m. Bhutanese material was photographed at Trontsa (2300 m), Wangdi and Pemagatse (both 2600 m) in September and October, flowering on shaded, moss-laden trees in cool montane woodland.

The plant forms tufted, slender, erect to pendulous stems clothed in black-hairy leaf sheaths, bearing thin, lanceolate leaves toward the apex. The flowers, borne singly or few together near the stem tips, are showy and predominantly white with a fringed labellum marked by orange to greenish veining in the throat. The narrow tepals are spreading; the diagnostic feature is the long, slender, horn-like spur (mentum) formed by the lateral sepals and column foot, from which the epithet "longicornu" derives. The column is short, the anther cap bearing waxy pollinia, and the fruit a ribbed capsule.

Within the large genus Dendrobium, this species belongs to the white-flowered Formosae (nigrohirsute) section, distinguished by the dark hairs on stems and sheaths. Although widespread, it is sought by orchid collectors and is affected by habitat loss and overharvesting; like all Dendrobium it is listed on CITES Appendix II, regulating international trade.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Orchids of Bhutan (Pearce & Cribb), CITES Appendix II listing

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium moniliforme

by GP Jürgens

(L.) Sw.

Bhutan2014 808
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1880m, June
Bhutan2014 809
Bhutan Mo-Chu 1880m, June
Sikkim2011 173
Sikkim Lachung 2660m, June

Description

Dendrobium moniliforme is one of the most widely distributed temperate dendrobiums, ranging from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China westward through the Himalaya to Nepal, with GBIF documenting over a thousand occurrences across this broad East Asian and Himalayan span. It grows as an epiphyte on the trunks and branches of trees, and occasionally as a lithophyte on mossy rock, in cool, humid evergreen and mixed montane forest. The species experiences a pronounced cool, dry winter rest; the photographed material from the Mo-Chu valley in Bhutan at about 1880 m and from Lachung in Sikkim at 2660 m, both in June, illustrates its occupation of mid-elevation temperate forest and its early-summer flowering.

The plant produces tufted, slender, erect or arching cane-like stems that are conspicuously jointed and somewhat swollen at the nodes, giving the necklace-like appearance evoked by the epithet. The stems are leafy above, the leaves narrowly lanceolate, thin-textured and deciduous, leaving the older canes bare. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs from the nodes of leafless stems, fragrant, and variable in colour from white to pale pink, cream or yellowish. The sepals and petals are spreading; the trilobed labellum is often marked with reddish or greenish spots and bears a hairy or warty disc, while the short column has a foot forming a mentum. The fruit is a small ellipsoid capsule.

Highly polymorphic across its enormous range, D. moniliforme is placed in Dendrobium section Dendrobium and has accumulated extensive synonymy, with numerous regional forms and horticultural selections; the alternative name appearing on the source link reflects this nomenclatural complexity. Long cultivated in East Asia and esteemed for its fragrance and cold-hardiness, it remains widespread, but localised populations are reduced by collection and habitat loss.

Author: (L.) Sw. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, The Orchids of Bhutan (Pearce & Cribb), Dendrobium and its Allies (Lavarack et al.)

Orchideaceae

Dendrobium porphyrochilum

by G & P Jürgens

Lindl.

BhutanPG2011 422011 Bhutan Dendrobium porphyrochilum
Bhutan Wangdi, 2500m June
BhutanPG2011 41
Bhutan Wangdi, 2500m June

Description

Dendrobium porphyrochilum is a small epiphytic orchid of the Eastern Himalaya and adjacent Southeast Asia, recorded from India, Nepal, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bhutan, with a modest set of georeferenced occurrences in GBIF. It grows as an epiphyte on the mossy trunks and branches of trees in cool, humid evergreen and mixed montane forest, where steady atmospheric moisture and a seasonal cool rest govern its growth. The species occurs at middle elevations of the temperate forest belt; the photographed plant from Wangdue in western Bhutan at about 2500 m, flowering in June, is typical of its altitudinal preference and its early-summer anthesis with the onset of the monsoon.

The plant forms small, tufted, slender, somewhat fusiform or cane-like stems clustered together, each bearing a few narrow, grass-like leaves toward the apex. The inflorescence is a short, arching to pendent raceme bearing several relatively small, nodding flowers that open more or less together. The sepals and petals are yellowish-green to olive or pale greenish, narrow and spreading. The labellum, from which the epithet derives, contrasts sharply, being deep purple to maroon-brown, recurved and obscurely lobed, sometimes bearing low keels along the disc. The short column has a foot forming a small mentum with the lateral sepals. The fruit is a small capsule.

The species belongs to Dendrobium section Oxyglossum (in the broad sense applied to small-flowered Himalayan dendrobiums of this alliance) and is distinguished among its temperate relatives by the dark, contrastingly coloured lip set against pale tepals. As a forest epiphyte of restricted abundance, it is dependent on intact, humid mid-elevation woodland and is therefore susceptible to deforestation and to over-collection, although it has not been formally assessed for conservation status.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, The Orchids of Bhutan (Pearce & Cribb), Dendrobium and its Allies (Lavarack et al.)