Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Orchideaceae

Papilionanthe vandarum

by GP Jürgens

(Rchb.f.) Garay

Bh2008 319 G494
Bhutan Jakar, 2950m April

Description

Papilionanthe vandarum is an epiphytic orchid distributed across the eastern Himalaya and adjoining Indo-Burmese ranges, with records from India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar; GBIF documents some 49 occurrences, the additional points from Belgium, the United States and Great Britain reflecting cultivated material in botanical collections. It grows on tree trunks and mossy branches in humid broad-leaved and coniferous forest, frequently in the montane belt between roughly 1500 and 3000 m, where seasonal monsoon moisture alternates with a drier cool season. The photographed plant from Jakar in central Bhutan at about 2950 m, flowering in April, is typical of its upper elevational range, where it flowers before the summer rains.

The species is readily recognised by its monopodial, scrambling habit and slender, terete (pencil-like) leaves that replace the flattened laminae of most orchids, an adaptation reducing water loss in exposed epiphytic sites. Stems are elongate, branching and rooting freely along their length by means of thick, greyish aerial roots. The inflorescences are short, few-flowered racemes bearing large, showy flowers; sepals and petals are white to pale, broad and somewhat undulate, while the trilobed labellum is prominent, with a spurred base and a coloured throat. The fruit is a dry, elongate dehiscent capsule releasing innumerable dust-like seeds.

Formerly placed in Aerides and Vanda, the species was transferred to Papilionanthe (a small Asian genus of terete-leaved monopodial orchids) by Garay; its terete foliage and pendent habit distinguish it from true Vanda. Like all wild orchids it is listed on CITES Appendix II, and populations are locally threatened by forest clearance and over-collection, though it remains fairly widespread across its Himalayan range.

Author: (Rchb.f.) Garay · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Orchids of Bhutan, Genera Orchidacearum (Pridgeon et al.)

Melanthiaceae

Paris mairei

by GP Jürgens

H.Lév.

Sikkim2004 7 G12
Sikkim West-Bengal, Sambon 1800m April
Sikkim2004 115 P196
Sikkim West-Bengal, Sambon 1800m April
Nepal 97 265 G547
Nepal Bagong-Khola 2700m May

Description

Paris mairei is a rhizomatous woodland herb of the Sino-Himalayan region, distributed across SW China, Nepal, NE India and Bhutan, with GBIF documenting around 269 records. It is a plant of shaded, humus-rich forest, growing in moist broadleaved and coniferous woodland, thickets and shady ravines of the temperate zone. The photographed populations at Sambon in the Sikkim–West Bengal hills (1,800 m, April) and at Bagong Khola in Nepal (2,700 m, May) reflect its altitudinal span from the warm temperate to the upper temperate forest belt, where it flowers in spring as the canopy leafs out.

It is an erect perennial arising from a creeping, knotty rhizome, bearing a single terminal whorl of stalkless or shortly petiolate, ovate to lanceolate, net-veined leaves. From the centre of the whorl rises a solitary, long-pedicellate flower with the parts in the characteristic Paris arrangement: a whorl of green, leaf-like outer perianth segments (sepals), filiform or narrowly linear inner segments (petals), prominent stamens with the connective often produced beyond the anther, and a central ovary crowned by spreading stigmas. The fruit is a capsule that splits to expose seeds with a coloured fleshy aril.

The genus Paris (now placed in Melanthiaceae rather than the former Trilliaceae) is renowned for its steroidal saponins, several Asian species being important in traditional Chinese medicine, which has driven heavy wild collection and conservation concern in parts of the range. The single leaf whorl and solitary, spider-like flower make the genus instantly recognisable, while the contrast between broad sepaloid and thread-like petaloid segments is diagnostic at species level. P. mairei is distinguished within the genus by its leaf and floral proportions and stamen connective form.

Author: H.Lév. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Nepal, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Li: The Genus Paris (Paridaceae)

Melanthiaceae

Paris thibetica

by G & P Jürgens

Franch.

Bhutan2014 469
Bhutan Tongsa 2000m, May
Bhutan2014 586
Bhutan Phobjika 3100m, May

Description

Paris thibetica is a rhizomatous woodland herb of the eastern Himalaya and Sino-Himalayan region, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, the Norwegian (NO) datum representing cultivated or herbarium material. Its roughly 281 georeferenced collections concentrate in the temperate forests of the Tibet-Himalaya borderlands. It grows in shaded, moist, humus-rich broadleaved and mixed forest, on banks and in damp ravines beneath the canopy. The photographed plants from Bhutan at Tongsa (2000 m) and Phobjika (3100 m), both in May, demonstrate its broad altitudinal range across the temperate belt and its spring flowering as the rhizome resumes growth after winter.

It is an erect perennial arising from a thick, creeping rhizome that produces a single unbranched stem. At the stem apex is a single whorl of typically four or more leaves, ovate-lanceolate to oblanceolate, with the netted-reticulate venation characteristic of the genus. From the centre of the whorl rises a solitary terminal flower on a slender pedicel. The perianth is in two distinct whorls: the outer of green, leaf-like sepals and the inner of very narrow, filiform to thread-like yellowish-green petals. Numerous stamens with elongate connectives surround a globose ovary crowned by spreading styles. The fruit is a capsule that opens to expose seeds borne in a fleshy, often reddish aril.

The genus Paris (herb-Paris) is placed in the Melanthiaceae (formerly Trilliaceae) and is centred on the temperate Sino-Himalayan mountains, where it is taxonomically intricate and much studied. Several species, including members of the Paris polyphylla complex to which P. thibetica is allied, are valued in traditional medicine for their steroidal saponins, exposing wild populations to harvesting pressure. Slow-growing and habitat-specific, herb-Paris species are increasingly of conservation concern owing to forest loss and over-collection.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal, Li's The Genus Paris (Trilliaceae)

Celastraceae

Parnassia longipetala

by GP Jürgens

Hand.-Mazz.

BhutanPG2011 706 01 01
Bhutan Pele-La, 3000m July

Description

Parnassia longipetala is a perennial herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent China; GBIF data, comprising around 85 occurrences, attribute the species principally to China (notably south-western provinces and Xizang), with field records extending into Bhutan. It is a plant of moist alpine and subalpine habitats, growing in wet meadows, grassy seepages, streamsides and among rocks where the substrate remains damp through the growing season. The population photographed at Pele-La in central Bhutan (3000 m, July) is characteristic of its occurrence in the cool, humid pastures and flushes of the eastern Himalaya, flowering during the monsoon-fed summer.

The plant forms a small rosette from a short rootstock, the basal leaves long-petiolate with ovate to cordate, entire blades. The flowering stem is erect, usually bearing a single sessile or shortly clasping cauline leaf below the solitary terminal flower. The flower has five green sepals and five free, white petals; in this species the petals are conspicuously long, narrowed and often fringed or attenuate, giving the epithet. Alternating with the fertile stamens are the characteristic Parnassia staminodes, divided into gland-tipped filaments. The superior to half-inferior ovary develops into a capsule splitting into valves and releasing numerous small seeds.

The family placement given here (Celastraceae) follows the broad APG circumscription, under which Parnassia and its allies (formerly Parnassiaceae) are treated within an enlarged Celastraceae; older floras place the genus in its own family. P. longipetala, described by Handel-Mazzetti, is distinguished within the Himalayan Parnassia complex by its elongate petals and staminode form. Given its restricted documented range and specialised wetland-meadow habitat, the species warrants attention, as such high-elevation flush communities are vulnerable to grazing, drainage and climatic change.

Author: Hand.-Mazz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, monograph of the genus Parnassia (Wu & Gu)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis bifida

by GP Jürgens

(Buch.-Ham.) Pennell

Nepal 99 901 ergebnis
West-Nepal Sepka 2700m, July

Description

Pedicularis bifida is a hemiparasitic perennial herb of the temperate and subalpine Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, India, Bhutan, China and Myanmar across some 250 documented records. It grows in moist meadows, forest clearings, shrubberies and along streamsides, generally between 2400 and 3800 m, flowering with the summer monsoon. The illustrated plant was collected at Sepka in West Nepal at 2700 m in July, within the typical mid-montane band where the species is most frequently encountered among tall-herb vegetation.

Like all lousewort, the plant is a root-parasite drawing water and nutrients from neighbouring hosts via haustoria. It forms erect, sometimes branched stems clothed with alternate to subopposite, pinnately lobed leaves bearing toothed segments. The flowers are aggregated into terminal leafy-bracted spikes or racemes; the calyx is tubular and toothed, and the strongly zygomorphic corolla is pink to rose-purple with a tube and a galeate upper lip whose apex is conspicuously bifid or beaked, the feature giving the epithet, and a spreading three-lobed lower lip. The four didynamous stamens lie within the galea and the fruit is an oblique, beaked loculicidal capsule.

The genus Pedicularis, transferred from Scrophulariaceae to Orobanchaceae on molecular grounds, reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where elaborate corolla architecture promotes specialised pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. The bifid galea of this species reflects such floral specialisation. As a widespread, locally common meadow component, P. bifida is not considered threatened, though it depends on intact host-rich grassland communities.

Author: (Buch.-Ham.) Pennell · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flowers of the Himalaya, Prain & Pennell revisions of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis diffusa

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Sikkim2011 197
Sikkim Lachung 3000m, June
Sikkim2011 230
Sikkim Lachung 3000m, June
Sikkim2003 261 P360
Sikkim Dzongri 4200m August
Sikkim2003 273 P376
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August

Description

Pedicularis diffusa is a hemiparasitic alpine herb of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan region, recorded from China, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Myanmar and Mongolia, with about 92 occurrences in GBIF. It inhabits subalpine and alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, scrub and the margins of forest, typically between about 3000 and 4500 m. The photographed populations come from Sikkim, at Lachung (3000 m, June) and at the high alpine site of Dzongri (4100-4200 m, August), spanning the species' altitudinal range and flowering from early summer into the late monsoon at the higher stations.

The plant forms loose clumps from a fibrous or somewhat thickened rootstock, with ascending to diffusely spreading stems, the habit reflected in the epithet diffusa. The leaves are pinnately divided into oblong, toothed segments and are arranged along the stems as well as basally. The flowers are borne in lax, leafy, often elongate and interrupted racemes; the corolla is pink to purplish-red, two-lipped, with a galea (hooded upper lip) and a broad three-lobed lower lip, the galea typically beaked or toothed at its apex. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule containing few seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, the species is a root hemiparasite, photosynthetic but tapping neighbouring plants via haustoria for water and minerals, an adaptation well suited to nutrient-poor alpine turf. The genus is extraordinarily diverse in the Sino-Himalayan mountains, and corolla architecture, particularly the form of the galea and beak, underpins species delimitation. Its tubular two-lipped flowers are adapted to bumblebee pollination. Restricted alpine specialists of this kind are potentially sensitive to climate warming and grazing pressure on high pastures.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis monograph (Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis flexuosa

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f.

BhutanPG2011 88
Bhutan Chogcham, 3100m June
Sikkim2003 434 P603
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August
Sikkim2003 248 P341
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August

Description

Pedicularis flexuosa is an Eastern Himalayan louseword recorded from Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, southwestern China and Mongolia, with around 202 occurrences distributed along the high Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan plateau margins. It spans the upper montane to alpine zone, the images documenting it at Chogcham in Bhutan at about 3100 m in June and at Dzongri in Sikkim at about 4100 m in August during the monsoon. It grows in alpine and subalpine meadow, open grassy slopes, scrub margins and damp turf on moist, well-drained ground, behaving as a hemiparasite drawing water and nutrients from the roots of surrounding grasses and herbs through haustorial connections.

It is an erect perennial herb arising from a short rootstock, with simple or sparingly branched stems that are often somewhat flexuous, as the epithet implies. The leaves are alternate to subopposite and pinnatisect, the segments toothed, giving the characteristic fern-like foliage of the genus. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or interrupted raceme; the corolla is strongly two-lipped and pinkish-purple to rose, the galea (upper lip) hooded and often beaked, enclosing the four didynamous stamens, while the lower lip is three-lobed and spreading. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule containing several seeds.

The species, described by J.D. Hooker, belongs to the large and taxonomically complex genus Pedicularis within the Orobanchaceae, a clade of green root-hemiparasites. The elaborate galeate corolla is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees, and the diverse corolla architecture across the genus underpins striking floral radiation in the Sino-Himalayan region. Locally frequent in suitable alpine grassland, P. flexuosa has not been formally assessed but is not regarded as threatened across its montane range.

Author: Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis revision (Sino-Himalayan species, after Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis furfuracea

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Pedicularis furfuraceae ergebnis
Bhutan Pele-La, 2800m June
BhutanPG2011 688 01 01 scaled
Bhutan Pele-La, 2800m June

Description

Pedicularis furfuracea is a Himalayan louseword distributed across Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and southwestern China, with around 223 records following the southern slopes of the central and eastern Himalaya. It occupies the temperate to subalpine zone, the image documenting it on the Pele-La in Bhutan at about 2800 m in June. It grows in open forest, forest margins, subalpine scrub, grassy slopes and meadow on moist, humus-rich soils, where, like its congeners, it lives as a facultative root-hemiparasite tapping neighbouring plants for water and minerals while retaining green, photosynthetic foliage.

It is an erect perennial herb with simple or branched stems bearing alternate, pinnately divided leaves whose lobes are toothed, the whole plant often appearing scurfy or mealy, a feature reflected in the epithet furfuracea ("bran-like"). The flowers are crowded in a terminal spike or raceme; the corolla is conspicuously two-lipped and yellow to pale yellow, the galea forming an arched, beaked hood that shelters the four didynamous stamens, with a spreading three-lobed lower lip serving as a landing platform. The calyx is tubular and toothed, and the fruit is an oblique, compressed capsule containing several seeds.

Described by Wallich and Bentham, the species belongs to the immense genus Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae), a hemiparasitic lineage that has radiated spectacularly in the Sino-Himalayan mountains, producing great diversity in corolla form and beak length tied to bumblebee pollination. The yellow galeate flowers of P. furfuracea are visited by long-tongued bees, and its hemiparasitism allows it to thrive in nutrient-limited montane soils. Locally common within its elevational band, it is not considered threatened.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pedicularis revision (Sino-Himalayan species, after Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis gracilis

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Bhutan2012 834
Bhutan Trongsa 1850m, October
Bhutan2012 1299
Bhutan Trashigang 1820m, October
Sikkim2003 388 P550
Sikkim Zemu Valley 3300m August

Description

Pedicularis gracilis Wall. ex Benth. is a hemiparasitic herb of the Himalaya and adjacent mountains, occurring across China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan and Myanmar. It is recorded from Bhutan at Trongsa and Trashigang between 1820 and 1850 m, flowering in October, and from the Zemu Valley in Sikkim at about 3300 m in August, spanning the warm temperate to subalpine zones. The species grows in open forest, scrub, grassy slopes, meadows and along stream banks, generally between 1500 and 3500 m, where, like all lousewort, it attaches to the roots of neighbouring plants as a facultative root hemiparasite. Its roughly 1008 GBIF records indicate a common and widely distributed species.

The plant is a slender, erect annual or short-lived perennial with a fibrous root system and a tall, sparingly branched stem. The leaves are alternate and pinnatisect, the segments themselves toothed or incised, giving a fern-like aspect. The flowers are borne in a long, lax, leafy-bracted terminal raceme; each has a tubular five-lobed calyx and a two-lipped corolla in pink to rose-purple, the upper lip (galea) hooded and beaked to enclose the four didynamous stamens, the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid, beaked capsule containing several seeds.

Pedicularis is one of the largest genera of the Sino-Himalaya, with the region a global centre of its diversity, and the intricate galea forms are closely tied to specialisation upon long-tongued bumblebee pollinators. As a hemiparasite the genus can influence community composition and is sensitive to changes in host vegetation. Being widespread and frequent, P. gracilis is of no particular conservation concern, though it serves as a useful indicator of intact montane grassland and forest-edge habitats.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Pedicularis monographs (Prain; Tsoong)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis gracilis subsp. macrocarpa

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain) P.C.Tsoong

Bhutan2012 1298
Bhutan Trashigang 1900m, October
BhutanPG2011 391
Bhutan Dur Tsa-Chu 3380m, June

Description

Pedicularis gracilis subsp. macrocarpa is a Sino-Himalayan lousewort distributed across southern China, northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, with about 33 documented GBIF occurrences. It occupies open forest, grassy slopes, scrub and meadow margins through a broad temperate to subalpine elevation span. The Bhutanese records illustrate this amplitude well: a population at Trashigang at 1900 m flowering in October and another at the Dur Tsa-Chu at 3380 m flowering in June, indicating tolerance of both warm-temperate forest and high subalpine grassland, on moist, humus-rich and seasonally damp ground.

It is a slender erect perennial herb, the stem often branched and the foliage finely dissected: the leaves are alternate or subopposite, pinnately divided into narrow, serrate segments. The flowers are borne in lax, leafy-bracteate terminal racemes; each has a tubular, toothed calyx and a strongly two-lipped pink to purplish corolla typical of the genus, the galeate upper lip (galea) often beaked or hooded and the spreading three-lobed lower lip forming a landing platform. The four didynamous stamens are concealed within the galea. As the subspecific epithet macrocarpa indicates, the fruit is a comparatively large, laterally compressed, beaked loculicidal capsule containing several seeds.

GBIF treats this name as a synonym while retaining Pedicularis gracilis subsp. macrocarpa as accepted, distinguished from the typical subspecies by its larger fruit. Like all louseworts it is a hemiparasite, drawing water and nutrients from neighbouring roots via haustoria while retaining green foliage. The galeate flowers are pollinated by bumblebees. The taxon is locally distributed but not of conservation concern.

Author: (Prain) P.C.Tsoong · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, A Monograph of the Genus Pedicularis