Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Asteraceae

Anaphalis triplinervis 

by GP Jürgens

Sims ex C.B.Clarke

Bhutan2015 408
Bhutan Tumching-La 4000m, October
Garw 2005 296 ergebnis
India Garhwal Kunol 2900m, September

Description

Anaphalis triplinervis is a widespread Himalayan everlasting recorded natively from Nepal, India, China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan, and widely grown in gardens (hence European and North American records); GBIF holds over 900 occurrences. It is a plant of open subalpine and alpine slopes, grassy meadows, forest clearings and stony banks, ranging from about 2000 to over 4000 m. The photographed material is from Tumching-La in Bhutan at 4000 m in October and from Kunol in Garhwal, India, at 2900 m in September, spanning the autumn flowering across the central and eastern Himalaya.

The species is a tufted perennial herb with creeping rhizomes and erect, white-woolly stems. The leaves are alternate, oblong to obovate-lanceolate, sessile and often somewhat decurrent, with the three prominent longitudinal nerves that give the epithet "triplinervis"; they are green and thinly cobwebby above and densely white-tomentose beneath. The capitula are small and crowded in dense terminal corymbs, each surrounded by spreading, papery, pearly-white involucral bracts that form the showy "flower"; the true florets are small and yellowish, the plants typically dioecious or functionally so. The fruit is a tiny cypsela with a pappus of barbellate bristles.

Anaphalis belongs to the tribe Gnaphalieae, the cudweeds, and A. triplinervis is among the most familiar Himalayan species, its persistent papery bracts making it a popular everlasting for drying. Abundant and ecologically tolerant of grazed and disturbed slopes, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: Sims ex C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Revision of Asiatic Anaphalis (Gnaphalieae)

Primulaceae

Androsace geranifolia

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bhutan2014 822
Bhutan Chele-La 3100m, May
Bhutan2014 1019
Bhutan Chele-La 3100m, May
Sikkim2004 376 P653
Sikkim/India Lachung 2800m May

Description

Androsace geranifolia is a Himalayan rock-jasmine of the temperate to subalpine zone, ranging through the central and eastern Himalaya from Nepal through Sikkim and India into Bhutan. GBIF currently holds no georeferenced occurrences and treats the name as doubtful at present, so its distribution is best inferred from herbarium and floristic records, which place it in moist, shaded forest, mossy banks, rock ledges and stream gullies between roughly 2500 and 3500 m. The documented sites at Chele-La in Bhutan at 3100 m and at Lachung in Sikkim, India, at 2800 m, both flowering in May, illustrate its preference for cool, humid, partly shaded montane habitats in spring.

It is a soft, herbaceous perennial, distinct among Himalayan Androsace in its conspicuously geranium-like foliage. The leaves are long-petiolate with orbicular to reniform, palmately lobed and toothed blades, forming a loose basal rosette or tuft rather than the tight cushion of many congeners. From the rosette arise slender, hairy scapes bearing an umbel of several small flowers subtended by leafy bracts. Each flower has a campanulate calyx and a salver-shaped white to pale pink corolla with five spreading lobes and a small yellow eye at the constricted throat. The fruit is a small, few- to several-seeded globose capsule.

Androsace is a large genus of Primulaceae centred on the mountains of central Asia, and A. geranifolia represents the broad-leaved, woodland-dwelling rather than cushion-forming element of the genus, allied to A. sarmentosa and A. rotundifolia. Its dissected foliage reflects adaptation to shaded forest understorey rather than the exposed screes typical of the section. As a narrowly distributed, seldom-collected Himalayan endemic, its conservation status remains formally unassessed and warrants further field documentation.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Smith & Lowe revision of Androsace, Flora of British India

Primulaceae

Androsace lanuginosa

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 99 60 ergebnis
West-Nepal Nyor Gaad 2800m, June
Garh 07 69 ergebnis scaled
Garh 07 68 ergebnis scaled
India Garhwal Nanu Mandakini 2360m, June

Description

Androsace lanuginosa is a Western and Central Himalayan endemic distributed from Pakistan and the Indian states of the Garhwal and Kumaon Himalaya eastward through Nepal, with collections also referred to adjoining Chinese territory. The species occupies open, rocky slopes, grassy banks and the margins of moist forest at montane to lower-subalpine elevations, generally between roughly 2300 and 3600 m. The photographed populations were recorded in West Nepal at Nyor Gaad around 2800 m and in Indian Garhwal at Nanu Mandakini near 2360 m, both flowering in June; the GBIF dataset records 277 occurrences across IN, NP, CN, PK and several countries (US, CA, DE) reflecting its cultivation as a rock-garden ornamental.

The plant is a mat-forming or trailing perennial with slender, prostrate to ascending stems radiating from a central rosette and rooting at the nodes. The leaves are crowded, oblong-lanceolate to obovate, entire, and densely clothed on both surfaces with long, soft, silky-villous hairs that give the foliage a silvery-grey, lanuginose aspect. Inflorescences are few-flowered umbels borne on softly hairy peduncles, subtended by an involucre of small bracts. Each flower has a hairy, lobed calyx and a salverform corolla, pink to rose-lilac with a yellow to greenish eye, the five obcordate lobes spreading from a short tube. The fruit is a small, few-seeded globose capsule.

Within the large genus Androsace, the species belongs to the perennial, stoloniferous rock-jasmines allied to A. sarmentosa, distinguished by its conspicuously woolly indumentum and trailing habit. It is an indicator of well-drained, sunny Himalayan slopes and is widely grown in temperate rock gardens, where several cultivars exist. Though locally common and not assessed as threatened, populations are sensitive to overgrazing and trampling at accessible elevations.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Smith & Lowe monograph of Androsace (Primulaceae)

Primulaceae

Androsace mucronifolia

by GP Jürgens

Watt

Nepal 99 779 ergebnis 1
Nepal 99 780 ergebnis
Nepal Paga La Phidi 3400m, July
Nepal 99 781 ergebnis
Nepal Paga La Phidi 3400m, July
see also: Rhodiola upleuroides

Description

Androsace mucronifolia Watt is a cushion-forming alpine of the western and central Himalaya, distributed across Pakistan, India, China, Afghanistan and Nepal (gbif_countries: PK, IN, CN, AF, NP) with 153 occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of dry, open, stony alpine slopes, rock crevices, gravelly ridges and exposed turf, generally in the drier inner ranges, occurring up to around 4500 m. The image data from Paga La Phidi in Nepal at 3400 m, flowering in July (noted alongside Rhodiola upleuroides), place it in the high-summer alpine zone where compact perennials exploit brief favourable conditions.

It is a low, mat- or cushion-forming perennial composed of dense leaf rosettes. The leaves are small, imbricate and characteristically mucronate, the firm cuspidate tips giving rise to the epithet mucronifolia, with margins often ciliate. From the rosettes arise short scapes bearing solitary flowers or small few-flowered umbels subtended by an involucre of bracts. The flowers have a campanulate five-lobed calyx and a salverform corolla with a short tube and five spreading lobes, white to pale pink with a contrasting yellow to reddish throat (the annulus). The fruit is a small globose capsule dehiscing by valves to release few seeds.

Androsace (Primulaceae, closely allied to Primula) comprises many high-altitude cushion species whose tight growth form is an adaptation to cold, wind and desiccation, trapping warmth and moisture at the rosette surface. The species belongs to the perennial cushion group centred on the western Himalaya and Central Asian mountains. Widespread across several countries and tolerant of harsh exposed sites, it is not considered threatened.

Author: Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan (Primulaceae), Annotated checklist of the flowering plants of Nepal, Smith & Lowe monograph The Genus Androsace

Primulaceae

Androsace muscoidea

by G & P Jürgens

Duby

Nepal 99 591 ergebnis
West-Nepal Garpung-Khola 3300m, July
Nepal 99 605 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara Phedi 3900m, July

Description

Androsace muscoidea is a cushion-forming rock-jasmine widely distributed along the Himalaya and into the adjoining mountains of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal and China, with around 120 georeferenced records reflecting its frequency across the high ranges. It is a true alpine, growing on stony slopes, gravelly flats, moraines and in rock crevices of the subalpine and alpine zones, often where snow lies late. The photographed material from West Nepal, gathered at Garpung-Khola around 3300 m and at Kagmara Phedi near 3900 m in July, illustrates the broad altitudinal band over which the species flowers during the brief high-mountain summer.

The plant forms dense, moss-like cushions or low mats, the epithet muscoidea aptly evoking its moss-like habit. Numerous tightly packed rosettes are composed of small, narrowly oblong to spathulate, imbricate leaves that are often densely hairy and somewhat fleshy, giving the cushion a hoary, grey-green appearance. The flowers are solitary or borne few together on very short, hairy scapes scarcely exceeding the foliage; each has a campanulate calyx and a salver-shaped corolla of five spreading lobes, white to pink with a contrasting yellow to reddish eye at the throat. The fruit is a small, few-seeded capsule dehiscing by valves.

Androsace is a large genus of mostly arctic and alpine Primulaceae, and the compact, cushion species such as A. muscoidea represent classic adaptations to cold, wind-exposed, drought-prone high-altitude environments, the densely packed rosettes conserving heat and moisture. Variable across its range, the species has given rise to several named forms and varieties. It is not regarded as threatened given its wide distribution, though localised alpine populations are sensitive to grazing, trampling and the warming of Himalayan high-mountain habitats.

Author: Duby · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China (Primulaceae), Smith & Lowe: The Genus Androsace (monograph)

Primulaceae

Androsace rotundifolia

by G & P Jürgens

Hardw.

Nepal 99 26 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chere 2850m June
Nepal 99 27 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chere 2850m June

Description

A perennial rock-jasmine distributed along the Himalaya and into south-western China, with verified records from Pakistan, India, Nepal, China and Afghanistan among nearly 600 GBIF occurrences (several extra-range entries reflect cultivation or misregistration). It favours shaded, humus-rich banks, mossy boulders, forest margins and damp cliff faces in the temperate and subalpine zones, generally between about 2000 and 3500 m. The illustrated plant was recorded in June at Chere in western Nepal at around 2850 m, a moist, partly shaded montane setting characteristic of the species.

Unlike the tight cushion androsaces, A. rotundifolia is a softly hairy, loosely tufted herb with a slender creeping or ascending rootstock. The leaves form a basal rosette and are distinctive in the genus: long-petiolate with a rounded to reniform, palmately lobed and crenate-toothed blade, sparsely pilose on both surfaces. From the rosette arises a slender, hairy scape bearing an umbel of several flowers, each subtended by small bracts. The corolla is salverform with a short tube and five spreading pink to rose lobes constricted at a small throat eye; five stamens are included, and the superior ovary ripens into a small globose, few-seeded capsule dehiscing by valves.

The broad, rounded, lobed leaves separate this species from most relatives and align it with a small group of woodland-dwelling rock-jasmines. As an accepted species (per GBIF and POWO) it is taxonomically stable. Ecologically it is an indicator of moist, sheltered montane habitats and contributes to early-summer flowering at forest edges. Widespread and locally frequent across its Himalayan range, it is of no particular conservation concern, though dependent on the persistence of undisturbed shaded substrates.

Author: Hardw. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Smith and Lowe monograph of Androsace

Primulaceae

Androsace sarmentosa

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

Sikkim 2006 12 ergebnis
India West-Bengal Tonglu 3100m, May

Description

Androsace sarmentosa is a mat-forming alpine herb of the Himalaya, well represented in GBIF with 514 occurrences across Nepal, India, China, Pakistan and Bhutan, supplemented by abundant cultivated records from Europe and North America, where it is a popular rock-garden plant. It grows on open grassy slopes, rocky banks and the margins of subalpine and alpine meadows, typically in well-drained, sunny situations. It was recorded at Tonglu in West Bengal, India, at about 3100 m in May, an elevation and season at which the spreading cushions flower freely after snowmelt on the Singalila ridge.

The plant spreads by slender, leafy stolons (sarmentose runners, as the epithet indicates) that root at the tips to form new rosettes, building loose, expanding mats. Each rosette consists of obovate to spathulate leaves densely clothed in long, soft, silvery hairs, the young rosettes more woolly than the old. From the rosettes arise erect peduncles bearing a terminal umbel of flowers subtended by an involucre of bracts; each flower has a five-lobed calyx and a salverform corolla, pink to rose with a yellow then reddish eye at the constricted throat. The fruit is a small, few-seeded capsule.

Androsace (Primulaceae) is a genus of mostly arctic and alpine cushion and rosette plants centred on the mountains of central Asia, where the Himalaya holds many species. A. sarmentosa belongs to the stoloniferous, perennial section and is among the most ornamental and frequently cultivated of Himalayan androsaces. It is widespread and not of conservation concern, but as a characteristic component of subalpine turf it is of interest for studies of alpine cushion-plant biogeography and horticulture.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Smith and Lowe monograph of Androsace

Primulaceae

Androsace sarmentosa subsp. primuloides

by G & P Jürgens

(Duby) Govaerts

Nepal 99 77 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chanta 2700m, June
Nepal 99 78 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chanta 2700m, June
Garw 2005 42 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Valley of flowers 3250m, September

Description

Androsace sarmentosa subsp. primuloides is a mat-forming rock-jasmine of the western and central Himalaya, recorded from India, China, Nepal and Pakistan, with about 122 occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open rocky slopes, ledges, stony pastures and the margins of alpine meadows, mainly in the subalpine and lower alpine zones between roughly 2500 and 4000 m, favouring well-drained, sunny sites. The photographs from Chanta in West Nepal at about 2700 m in June and from the Valley of Flowers in Garhwal at about 3250 m in September capture the plant across its altitudinal range from early summer flowering to late-season fruiting in the high meadows.

The plant forms loose mats by means of slender, leafy stolons or runners (hence sarmentosa) that root at the nodes to produce new rosettes. Each rosette consists of oblong to spathulate leaves clothed, especially when young, in silky white or silvery hairs that give the cushions a downy appearance. From the rosettes arise short, hairy scapes bearing an umbel of several flowers subtended by a whorl of bracts; the flowers have a five-lobed, salver-shaped corolla, rose-pink with a yellow or orange eye and a constricted throat, recalling a small primrose, as the epithet primuloides suggests. The fruit is a small capsule with few seeds.

Androsace belongs to the Primulaceae and is closely allied to Primula, distinguished by its smaller flowers with a constricted corolla throat; the stoloniferous, mat-building habit of this taxon contrasts with the tight cushions of many high-alpine relatives. Long popular in alpine and rock gardening for its free-flowering pink umbels, it propagates readily from its rooting runners. Widely distributed and locally abundant, the subspecies is not of conservation concern.

Author: (Duby) Govaerts · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Smith and Lowe's monograph of Androsace, Richards' Primula and its allies

Ranunculaceae

Anemonastrum obtusilobum

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Mosyakin

Bhutan2014 516
Bhutan Yatong-La 3200m, May
Nepal 99 82 ergebnis
Bhutan Bhulbhule 3150m, June

Description

Anemonastrum obtusilobum, long known as Anemone obtusiloba, is a widespread Himalayan and Central Asian alpine herb recorded from China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with a substantial 825 occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of open alpine and subalpine meadows, grassy slopes, forest clearings and stony turf, typically between 2500 and 4500 m. The localities cited, Yatong-La at 3200 m in May and Bhulbhule at 3150 m in June in Bhutan, are characteristic of the moist, herb-rich montane grassland where it carpets slopes in spring and early summer.

The species is a tufted perennial herb from a stout, often branched rootstock clothed with the fibrous remains of old leaf bases. The basal leaves are long-petiolate and palmately three-lobed, the lobes broad and obtusely toothed (hence obtusilobum), softly hairy and somewhat fleshy. The flowering scape bears an involucre of leaf-like bracts and one to several flowers; each flower lacks petals but has five to eight petaloid sepals that are white, cream, yellow or violet-blue, surrounding numerous yellow stamens and a cluster of free carpels. The fruit is a head of compressed, glabrous achenes each tipped with a short style.

The segregate genus Anemonastrum was resurrected on molecular grounds from the broadly circumscribed Anemone, grouping the herbaceous, palmately lobed-leaved species with basal involucres; A. obtusilobum is a polymorphic species varying greatly in flower colour and stature across its range, prompting recognition of several varieties. Its insect-pollinated flowers and dry achenes, dispersed by wind and animals, suit the open alpine environment. The species is common and of least conservation concern, though it remains a useful indicator of intact Himalayan alpine meadow communities.

Author: (D.Don) Mosyakin · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Ranunculaceae

Anemonastrum polyanthes

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Holub

Bh09 32 G59
Bhutan above Paro 3200m, June
Garh 07 464 ergebnis
India Garhwal Khiar Kutti 3900m, June

Description

Anemonastrum polyanthes (formerly Anemone polyanthes) is a robust alpine herb distributed across the Himalaya and into western China, with GBIF holding around 362 occurrences from India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. It grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, open slopes, forest clearings and grazed pastures, typically between 3000 and 4300 m, flowering with the onset of the summer monsoon. The cited collections from above Paro in Bhutan at 3200 m and from Khiar Kutti in Garhwal, India, at 3900 m, both in June, capture its broad altitudinal spread across damp, herb-rich high-meadow turf.

It is a perennial arising from a stout rootstock, with all principal leaves basal, long-petiolate and palmately three- to five-partite, the segments deeply cut and toothed, hairy on both surfaces. The flowering stem bears a whorl of leaf-like, sessile involucral bracts subtending an umbel-like cyme of several flowers, as the epithet polyanthes implies. Each flower lacks petals; the five to eight petaloid sepals are white, sometimes flushed pinkish or bluish outside, surrounding numerous yellow stamens and a domed cluster of carpels. The fruits are flattened, glabrous, ovate achenes with a short hooked beak, aggregated into a rounded head.

The segregate genus Anemonastrum, raised from Anemone on molecular and morphological grounds, accommodates this group of umbellate-flowered, multi-flowered montane species. Like other Ranunculaceae it contains acrid protoanemonin, deterring grazing livestock so that it often persists conspicuously in over-grazed alpine pasture. Widespread and frequently common throughout the Himalayan arc, it is of Least Concern and serves as a prominent component of summer-flowering high-altitude meadow communities.

Author: (D.Don) Holub · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Hand-Mazzetti and Tamura treatments of Anemone