Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Polygonaceae

Persicaria capitata

by G & P Jürgens

(Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross

Bhutan2012 949
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, October
Bhutan2012 950
Bhutan Tumching-La 2900m, October

Description

Persicaria capitata (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross is a mat-forming perennial native to the Himalaya and southern China that has become widely naturalised as an ornamental and weed. GBIF documents nearly 23,000 occurrences, with native records from India, Nepal, China and Taiwan and extensive introduced populations across Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan and Réunion. In its native range it grows on rocky banks, walls, gravelly slopes and disturbed mid-montane ground. The Bhutanese plant photographed at the Tumching-La, at about 2900 m in October, reflects its occurrence in the cool temperate zone of the eastern Himalaya.

The plant is a low, creeping herb that roots at the nodes to form dense mats; the slender, often reddish stems bear membranous ochreae at the swollen nodes. The leaves are ovate to elliptic, frequently marked with a dark V-shaped band and sometimes tinged purple. The flowers are aggregated into small, dense, globose heads borne on slender peduncles; the perianth is pink, five-lobed and persists in fruit. The fruit is a small trigonous achene enclosed by the perianth.

Widely grown as a ground-cover ornamental, P. capitata escapes readily and is recorded as an environmental weed in parts of the Mediterranean, Macaronesia, Australasia and the Americas. Its capacity to root at the nodes and spread vegetatively, combined with prolific seed production, underlies its colonising success. The species is not of conservation concern; instead it exemplifies how a Himalayan native can attain a near-cosmopolitan distribution through horticultural dispersal and subsequent naturalisation.

Author: (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Hara & Williams Polygonaceae treatments

Polygonaceae

Persicaria wallichii

by GP Jürgens

Greuter & Burdet

Bhutan2015 483
Bhutan Pele-La 3100m, October
Sikkim2003 410 G570
Sikkim Zemu Valley 3400m August

Description

Persicaria wallichii (the accepted name under which this taxon is listed, the binomial here being treated as a synonym in GBIF) is a robust perennial knotweed native to the Himalaya and adjacent mountains of China and Myanmar, where it occupies open hillsides, forest margins, riverbanks and disturbed ground in the temperate and subalpine zones. From its Himalayan homeland it has spread widely as an introduced and frequently invasive plant, the GBIF dataset recording it across much of Europe as well as North and South America and New Zealand, totalling well over a thousand occurrences. The illustrated plants from Pele-La in Bhutan at 3100 m, flowering in October, and from the Zemu Valley in Sikkim at 3400 m in August, exemplify its native montane setting.

The plant forms tall, spreading clumps from a vigorous, far-creeping rhizome, with erect to ascending stems that are reddish-tinged and somewhat woody at the base. The leaves are large, ovate-lanceolate to triangular, acuminate, cordate to truncate at the base, often white-tomentose beneath, and subtended by membranous, brownish ochreae sheathing the swollen nodes. The numerous small flowers are borne in much-branched, lax panicles of slender spike-like racemes; each flower has a white to pinkish perianth of five tepals enclosing eight stamens and a trifid style. The fruit is a small, glossy, three-angled (trigonous) achene enclosed by the persistent perianth.

Formerly placed in Polygonum and Aconogonon (reflected in the synonymy and field labels), the species sits within a much-revised section of Persicaria. Its dense rhizomatous growth allows it to form persistent thickets, and outside its native range it behaves as an aggressive colonist of riverbanks and waste ground, prompting management concern in several countries; within the Himalaya it remains a common and ecologically benign component of moist montane vegetation.

Author: Greuter & Burdet · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Polygonaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Hydrangeaceae

Philadelphus tomentosus

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex G. Don

Sikkim2011 33
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June
Sikkim2011 177
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June
Sikkim2011 390
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June

Description

Philadelphus tomentosus, the Himalayan mock-orange, is native to the temperate Himalaya, ranging from Nepal through Sikkim and Bhutan into northern India and SW China, with the many additional GBIF country codes (US, DE, BE, GB, PL and others) reflecting its wide cultivation as an ornamental shrub rather than a natural range. Some 388 occurrence records underpin this. The photographed plant was found at Lachung in northern Sikkim at about 2,600 m in June, at the onset of flowering. In the wild it is a shrub of temperate forest margins, ravines, open slopes and streamsides, typically between 1,800 and 3,000 m, often among mixed broadleaf and conifer woodland.

It is a deciduous shrub with arching branches and exfoliating bark on older stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, with a denticulate margin and three to five main veins from the base; the lower surface is densely tomentose with greyish hairs, a character giving the species its epithet. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes or panicles and are fragrant, with four white obovate petals, a cup-shaped hypanthium, four sepals and numerous stamens surrounding a four-locular inferior ovary tipped by partly divided styles. The fruit is a small woody capsule dehiscing loculicidally to release numerous minute seeds.

The genus Philadelphus is centred on the Northern Hemisphere and is taxonomically complex owing to hybridisation and horticultural selection; the leaf indumentum and floral dimensions distinguish P. tomentosus from related Asian species. Long valued in gardens for its scented blossom, it has naturalised in parts of Europe and North America. It remains common in its native montane forests and is of no conservation concern.

Author: Wall. ex G. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Hu: A Monograph of the Genus Philadelphus

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides bracteosa

by G & P Jürgens

(Royle ex Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm.

Nepal 99 353 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kalmura 3700m, June
Garh 07 209 ergebnis
India Garhwal Panwali 3300m, June

Description

Phlomoides bracteosa is a robust perennial herb of the alpine and subalpine zones of the western and central Himalaya and adjacent Central Asia. Its distribution, documented from over 330 georeferenced records, spans India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, China, Bhutan and Kazakhstan, reflecting a broad Irano-Turanian to Sino-Himalayan range. It favours open grassy slopes, forest margins, moist meadows and stabilised screes, typically between 2500 and 4000 m. The accompanying material was gathered at Kalmura in West Nepal at 3700 m and at Panwali in Garhwal, India, at 3300 m, both in June, near the onset of the monsoon flowering peak.

The plant forms erect, quadrangular, often purplish stems arising from a stout rootstock, reaching 0.5-1 m. The leaves are opposite, broadly ovate to cordate, rugose above with an impressed venation, crenate-serrate at the margin, and densely tomentose beneath. The inflorescence consists of several remote, many-flowered verticillasters subtended by conspicuous, often coloured and ciliate floral bracts that give the species its epithet. The two-lipped corolla is pink to purple, the upper lip galeate and bearded, enclosing didynamous stamens; the calyx is tubular with subequal teeth. The fruit is a schizocarp of four smooth trigonous nutlets.

The species belongs to a complex once treated under Phlomis, now segregated into Phlomoides on the basis of corolla, stamen and nutlet characters supported by molecular phylogenetics. It is a frequent component of Himalayan tall-herb and grazing communities, visited by long-tongued bees and bumblebees. Though not formally assessed, its wide range and tolerance of disturbed pasture suggest it is not currently threatened.

Author: (Royle ex Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Kamelin & Makhmedov revision of Phlomoides

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides macrophylla

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall.) Kamelin & Makhm.

Nepal 99 380 ergebnis
West-Nepal Linji-Khola 3250m, June

Description

Phlomoides macrophylla is a Himalayan and Central Asian perennial mint distributed across Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, China and Afghanistan, with GBIF documenting roughly 120 occurrences along the main Himalayan arc and its western extensions. It occupies cool temperate to subalpine habitats, growing on open grassy slopes, in forest clearings, among shrubberies and on rocky banks, generally on well-drained soils in sunny to lightly shaded situations. The collection from Linji-Khola in western Nepal at about 3250 m in June is characteristic of its preferred subalpine elevation and its early monsoon flowering, when the herb-rich meadows of the inner valleys come into bloom.

The plant is an erect, robust perennial herb arising from a thick rootstock, the quadrangular stems clothed in stellate and simple hairs. As the epithet indicates, the leaves are conspicuously large, ovate to broadly cordate, with a crenate to serrate margin, a rugose upper surface and a densely tomentose, paler lower surface, the basal leaves long-petiolate and the upper ones reduced. The inflorescence comprises several dense, many-flowered verticillasters in the upper leaf axils, subtended by linear-subulate, often spinescent bracts. Each flower has a tubular, ribbed and toothed calyx and a strongly two-lipped corolla, typically purple, pink or pale violet, the hooded upper lip bearded and arching over the spreading three-lobed lower lip. Four didynamous stamens lie beneath the galea, and the gynobasic style yields four nutlets.

Described by Wallich and transferred to Phlomoides by Kamelin and Makhmedov, the species reflects the modern segregation of the herbaceous, rhizomatous Asiatic phlomises from the shrubby Mediterranean genus Phlomis s.str., a division supported by molecular phylogenetic study within tribe Phlomideae. Several Phlomoides species are used in regional folk medicine and as forage. Widespread and locally common in suitable montane grassland, P. macrophylla is not currently considered threatened, though it depends on the persistence of undisturbed subalpine meadow vegetation.

Author: (Wall.) Kamelin & Makhm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Bhutan, Mathiesen et al. phylogeny of Phlomoides

Phyllanthaceae

Phyllanthus emblica

by G & P Jürgens

L.

Bhutan2012 534
Bhutan Wangdi 2600m, September
Nepal 97 68 P104
Nepal Mewa-Khola 1250m April
Nepal 97 67 P103
Nepal Mewa-Khola 1250m April

Description

Phyllanthus emblica, the emblic myrobalan or Indian gooseberry (amla), is a small to medium tree of tropical and subtropical Asia with a very broad distribution embracing India, China, much of Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and many introduced ranges, recorded in GBIF by more than 19000 occurrences. It is a plant of deciduous and mixed dry forest, open hillsides, scrub and cultivated and disturbed ground, and is very widely planted, generally from the lowlands up into the hills. The cited material spans Mewa Khola in eastern Nepal at 1250 m, in leaf and flower in April, and Wangdi in Bhutan at 2600 m in September, the latter near the upper elevational limit and reflecting the species' wide ecological amplitude across the southern Himalayan belt.

The tree reaches up to about 8–18 m, with smooth, pale, often flaking bark and slender, feathery branchlets bearing numerous small, distichous, oblong-linear leaves that closely resemble the pinnae of a compound leaf, the whole leafy branchlet being deciduous as a unit. It is monoecious, the small, greenish-yellow, apetalous flowers borne in clusters in the leaf axils. The fruit is the most distinctive feature: a fleshy, globose, pale green to yellowish drupe-like capsule, 1.5–2.5 cm across, with six faint longitudinal furrows, a hard central stone, and a markedly sour, astringent flesh.

Phyllanthus is a vast pantropical genus now placed in the family Phyllanthaceae, segregated from a broadly defined Euphorbiaceae. P. emblica is among the most economically and culturally important of its members: the vitamin-C-rich fruit is a staple of Ayurvedic and traditional medicine and is widely eaten preserved or processed, while the tree yields tannins, dye and timber. It is extensively cultivated and naturalised well beyond its native range. Being abundant, hardy and widely grown, the species is of no conservation concern and is in many areas a familiar element of agroforestry and village landscapes.

Author: L. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, A Monograph of the Genus Phyllanthus (Phyllanthaceae)

Fabaceae

Phyllolobium donianus

by GP Jürgens

(DC.) M.L.Zhang & Podlech

Nepal 2009 27 ergebnis
Nepal Helambu Koktrok 3000m, May

Description

Phyllolobium donianus (correctly P. donianum, the accepted spelling), formerly placed in Astragalus, is a Sino-Himalayan legume distributed from Nepal through northern India, Sikkim and Bhutan into south-western China, with 256 GBIF records concentrated in the central and eastern Himalaya. It grows on open grassy slopes, forest clearings, banks and stony alpine pastures in the temperate to subalpine zone. The cited collection from Koktrok in the Helambu region of Nepal at 3000 m in May places its flowering in the late-spring period on warm-temperate mountain grassland before the onset of the summer monsoon.

It is a perennial herb with slender, ascending to trailing stems arising from a woody rootstock, the herbage thinly clothed in appressed medifixed (dolabriform) hairs typical of the genus. The leaves are imparipinnate with several pairs of small elliptic to obovate leaflets. The flowers are pea-shaped (papilionaceous), borne in axillary racemes on long peduncles, the corolla purplish to violet-blue with a notched standard, oblong wings and a blunt keel, subtended by a campanulate, hairy calyx with short teeth. The fruit is a small, membranous to leathery legume, somewhat inflated and stipitate, dehiscing to release several reniform seeds.

Phyllolobium was segregated from the vast genus Astragalus by Zhang and Podlech on the basis of molecular and morphological evidence, comprising a distinctive Asian clade of milkvetches. P. donianum, transferred from Astragalus donianus DC., exemplifies this realignment. Like other milkvetches it is nitrogen-fixing through rhizobial symbiosis and bee-pollinated; it is widespread and not of conservation concern.

Author: (DC.) M.L.Zhang & Podlech · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Zhang & Podlech monograph of Phyllolobium

Pinaceae

Picea brachytyla

by GP Jürgens

(Franch.) E.Pritz.

Bh2008 298 P457
Bhutan Ura, 3400m April

Description

Picea brachytyla, the Sargent spruce, is a montane to subalpine conifer of the eastern Himalaya and southwest to central China, with GBIF documenting some 1,700 occurrences concentrated in China and Bhutan alongside many cultivated records in Europe, North America and elsewhere reflecting its value as an ornamental and forestry tree. In its native range it forms part of the cool-temperate conifer forests between roughly 2600 and 3800 m, often in mixed stands with fir, hemlock, larch and rhododendron on humid, well-drained mountain slopes fed by the summer monsoon. The photographed tree from Ura in central Bhutan at 3400 m, in April, sits within this upper-montane belt, where the species occupies sheltered valleys and north-facing slopes that retain moisture and snow into spring.

It is an evergreen tree to 20-30 m or more, with a conical to columnar crown and grey-brown, scaly bark, the branchlets pale and often slightly pubescent in the grooves between the pulvini. The needles are linear and flattened in cross-section rather than quadrangular, distinctly two-ranked or pectinate, dark green above and conspicuously marked beneath with two whitish stomatal bands that give the foliage a silvery cast. The pendulous seed cones are cylindrical-oblong, green ripening to brown, with thin, rounded to obtuse, entire-margined scales; the small winged seeds are wind-dispersed.

Picea brachytyla belongs to the flat-needled group of spruces (subgenus Casicta) and is morphologically close to P. spinulosa of the same region, from which it is separated by needle and cone characters; several varieties have been recognised across its longitudinal range, notably the western var. complanata. The species is assessed by the IUCN as Vulnerable, its populations reduced by logging and forest clearance across China, while the Himalayan stands in Bhutan and adjacent areas remain comparatively intact within protected high-mountain forest.

Author: (Franch.) E.Pritz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 4, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Farjon's A Handbook of the World's Conifers

Pinaceae

Picea smithiana

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall.) Boiss.

Nepal 99 189 ergebnis
West-Nepal Lara-Lake 3000m, June

Description

Picea smithiana, the West Himalayan or morinda spruce, is a large coniferous tree native to the western and central Himalaya, with a natural range from Afghanistan through northern Pakistan and India to western Nepal and adjacent Tibet (China). The numerous GBIF records outside this core area (United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium and others) reflect its long history in arboreta and forestry cultivation rather than natural occurrence. In the wild it forms montane and subalpine coniferous forest, often mixed with Cedrus deodara, Abies pindrow and Pinus wallichiana, typically between about 2,000 and 3,600 m. The plant photographed at Lara Lake in West Nepal at 3,000 m in June lies near the south-eastern limit of its distribution.

The tree is evergreen, reaching 40 m or more, with a straight trunk and conspicuously pendulous branchlets that give it a weeping habit. The leaves are needle-like, quadrangular in cross-section, dark green, among the longest of any spruce at up to 4 cm, borne radially on raised peg-like pulvini. It is monoecious; the pollen cones are small and reddish, while the seed cones are pendulous, cylindrical, 12-18 cm long, green ripening to glossy brown, with smooth-margined, rounded scales. The winged seeds are shed in autumn.

Picea smithiana is the only spruce native to the western Himalaya and is valued for its soft, light timber and as an ornamental. It is assessed as Least Concern globally, though local populations are reduced by logging and grazing pressure. Its weeping, long-needled morphology distinguishes it readily from the eastern Himalayan Picea spinulosa, with which it forms a vicariant pair across the genus's Himalayan distribution.

Author: (Wall.) Boiss. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 4, Flora of Pakistan, GBIF, Farjon: A Handbook of the World's Conifers

Pinaceae

Picea spinulosa

by G & P Jürgens

(Griff.) A.Henry

Bhutan2015 407
Bhutan Jakar 2550, October
Sikkim2004 440 P767
Sikkim/India Lachung 3400m May

Description

Picea spinulosa, the Sikkim or Himalayan weeping spruce, is a coniferous tree endemic to the eastern Himalaya, native to Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Nepal and adjacent China (Xizang); GBIF lists 291 occurrences, many from cultivated arboretum specimens in Europe and North America. In the wild it forms montane coniferous and mixed forests, often on north-facing slopes and in sheltered valleys, generally between about 2300 and 3700 m. The trees illustrated were photographed at Jakar in Bhutan at 2550 m in October and at Lachung in Sikkim at 3400 m in May, spanning the typical altitudinal range.

It is a tall evergreen tree with a conical to columnar crown and pendulous, weeping branchlets that give the species its distinctive habit. The bark is grey and scaly; the needle leaves are flattened, sharply pointed (spinulose, as the epithet notes), borne singly on small peg-like pulvini and showing two whitish stomatal bands beneath. The seed cones are pendulous, cylindrical, green ripening to pale brown, with thin, rounded, entire scales. Pollen and seed cones mature in a single season, and the winged seeds are dispersed by wind from the opening cones.

Picea spinulosa belongs to Pinaceae and is a regional dominant of the eastern Himalayan temperate conifer forests, frequently associating with Tsuga, Abies and broadleaved genera. Its graceful weeping form has led to its planting in temperate arboreta worldwide, accounting for the wide scatter of cultivated records. The species yields useful softwood timber. Although restricted in natural range, it remains locally common; nonetheless its forests are vulnerable to logging, fire and the cumulative effects of land-use change across the eastern Himalaya.

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