Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Primulaceae

Primula dickieana

by GP Jürgens

G.Watt

Sikkim2011 40
Sikkim Vista-valley 3700m, June
Sikkim2011 41
Sikkim Vista-valley 3700m, June
Sikkim2004 388 P666
Sikkim Lachung 3100m, May
Sikkim 2006 357 ergebnis
India West-Bengal Tamrong 2750m, May

Description

Primula dickieana is an eastern Himalayan primrose ranging through China, Nepal, India, Myanmar and Bhutan, with about 202 GBIF records concentrated in the Sikkim–Bhutan sector. It is a plant of moist alpine meadows, damp turf and seepage slopes, typically between roughly 2700 and 4500 m. The cited collections span this gradient, from Sikkim's Vista valley at 3700 m and Lachung at 3100 m to Tamrong in West Bengal at 2750 m, flowering in May and June as snowmelt saturates the high pastures. It thrives where cool, humus-rich soils remain reliably wet through the early growing season.

The species is a small, tufted, perennial herb forming a basal rosette of leaves that are oblanceolate to spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, with crenate to entire margins and an efarinose (mealless) surface. A single slender scape bears a solitary terminal flower, or occasionally a few, the corolla rotate and showy in proportion to the plant. Flower colour is notably variable, ranging from yellow through cream, pink and purple to nearly white, with a tubular calyx and a corolla limb of broad, often emarginate lobes. The fruit is a small capsule enclosed within the persistent calyx, dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

Within Primula, the species is placed in section Yunnanensis (formerly allied to section Dickieana), a group of single-flowered alpine primulas, and its remarkable colour polymorphism has long interested monographers. Pollination is effected by alpine insects visiting the open corolla. The species is locally common within its narrow alpine band but, like many Sino-Himalayan primulas, is potentially vulnerable to upslope habitat compression under a warming climate and to trampling and grazing in accessible high pastures.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Primulaceae), Richards Primula (monograph)

Primulaceae

Primula drummondiana

by G & P Jürgens

Craib

Nepal 99 472 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3250m, June

Description

Primula drummondiana is a narrowly distributed Himalayan primrose confined to the central and western Himalaya, with GBIF records from India, Nepal and Bhutan totalling only about 37 collections, reflecting both its restricted range and limited herbarium representation. It grows on damp alpine and subalpine slopes, moist rock ledges, snow-melt flushes and grassy stream margins, generally between 3000 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Churta-Khola in west Nepal at 3250 m in June, flowering soon after snowmelt, illustrates its dependence on cool, moisture-retentive ground in the brief Himalayan growing season.

It is a small rosette-forming perennial herb. The leaves are obovate to oblong-spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, with a crenate-dentate margin and frequently a farinose (mealy white) coating on the undersurface, as is characteristic of many farinose-section primulas. The flowers are borne in a terminal umbel on a slender scape overtopping the foliage; the corolla is salver-shaped with a narrow tube and spreading, notched lobes, typically violet to pinkish-purple with a contrasting yellow or whitish eye. Plants are heterostylous, producing pin and thrum morphs, and the fruit is a small capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

The genus Primula reaches its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalayan mountains, and P. drummondiana belongs to the farinose-leaved alliance whose members are taxonomically intricate and often distinguished by subtle leaf, farina and corolla characters. Heterostyly enforces outcrossing in these alpine populations. Its small known range and few documented sites mean the species merits conservation attention, as such restricted-range alpine primulas are particularly sensitive to warming and grazing pressure on high pastures.

Author: Craib · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Smith & Fletcher revision of Primula, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula erosa

by G & P Jürgens

(Wall. ex. Duby) Regel

Nepal 99 381 ergebnis
West-Nepal Linji-Khola 3200m, June
Nepal 99 394 ergebnis
West-Nepal Sallibagar-Khola 3100m, June

Description

Primula erosa (Wall. ex Duby) Regel is a Himalayan primrose with a comparatively narrow range, recorded only from India and Nepal, with about 30 georeferenced occurrences in GBIF, reflecting its restricted and localised distribution. It grows in moist, shaded situations such as forest floors, damp banks, mossy rocks and the margins of streams in the temperate to subalpine belt, broadly between about 2500 and 3500 m. The illustrated plants were gathered in West Nepal along the Linji-Khola at 3200 m and the Sallibagar-Khola at 3100 m, both in June, in the cool, humid gorge habitats favoured by this spring-flowering herb.

The plant is a low, rosette-forming perennial growing from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves form a basal rosette and are oblong to obovate, the margin characteristically erose to crenate-dentate (the epithet erosa) and the blade often farinose or mealy on the lower surface, tapering into a winged petiole. The flowers are borne in a terminal umbel atop a slender, erect scape; the corolla is typically pink to rose-purple with a yellowish eye, the limb of five notched lobes spreading from a slender tube above a campanulate calyx. Plants are heterostylous, with pin and thrum forms. The fruit is a small capsule releasing numerous seeds.

Within the vast genus Primula, this species belongs among the farinose Himalayan primroses and is allied to other small, mealy-leaved montane taxa. Its mealy farina and heterostylous breeding system are characteristic adaptations promoting outcrossing in cool, humid environments. Owing to its limited distribution and dependence on undisturbed moist forest habitat, the species merits monitoring, although no formal conservation assessment has been published.

Author: (Wall. ex. Duby) Regel · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of British India, Richards Primula monograph, Smith & Fletcher revision of Asiatic Primula

Primulaceae

Primula filipes

by G & P Jürgens

G.Watt

Bhutan2014 1057
Bhutan Takthsang 2900m, May
Bhutan2014 1060
Bhutan Takthsang 2900m, May

Description

Primula filipes is a slender, delicate primrose of the eastern Himalayas, distributed across Bhutan, Sikkim and adjacent northeast India, eastern Nepal, northern Myanmar and southwest China (Xizang, Yunnan). It is a plant of cool, humid montane forest, favouring mossy banks, shaded streamsides and damp rock ledges within mixed broad-leaved and conifer woodland. The species typically occurs between roughly 2,500 and 3,600 m; the population photographed near the cliffside monastery of Taktshang (Tiger's Nest) in Bhutan at about 2,900 m in May is characteristic of its preferred shaded, moist forest understorey.

The plant is a small perennial herb forming a loose rosette of thin, ovate to oblong-elliptic leaves that are crenate-dentate at the margin and gradually narrowed into a slender, winged petiole, the lamina often farinose beneath. From the rosette arises a filiform, erect scape, frequently efarinose, terminating in a lax umbel of few flowers. The flowers are small, with a campanulate calyx and a pale to deep purple-violet corolla bearing a yellow eye and a notched, spreading limb; the capsule is globose and shorter than or subequal to the persistent calyx.

Primula filipes belongs to section Petiolares, a large and taxonomically intricate Himalayan group characterised by farinose, rosette-forming herbs of moist forest habitats. The species was described by the botanist George Watt from Himalayan material. As a narrowly montane forest endemic dependent on undisturbed humid woodland, it is sensitive to deforestation and trampling at popular pilgrimage sites, though it remains locally frequent within suitable habitat.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of China Vol. 15, GBIF, Richards: Primula (2003)

Primulaceae

Primula glomerata

by GP Jürgens

Pax

Nepal 95 113 P200 ergebnis
Nepal Rupina-La 3100m, September

Description

Primula glomerata Pax is an alpine primrose of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and southern China, with roughly 207 GBIF occurrences; isolated points in Canada and Japan reflect botanic-garden or cultivated material. It inhabits open grassy slopes, moist alpine meadows and the margins of streams and seepages, broadly between about 3000 and 4500 m. The photographed plant from the Rupina-La in central Nepal at approximately 3100 m, in September, illustrates its late-season flowering on cool, humid montane turf where it forms scattered colonies among short alpine herbage.

The species is a perennial herb with a short rootstock bearing a rosette of leaves that are oblong to spathulate, crenate to denticulate at the margin, and frequently mealy or efarinose beneath. From the rosette rises a slender scape terminating in a dense, capitate or glomerate inflorescence, whence the epithet, of small bluish-purple to violet flowers; each has a tubular calyx and a salverform corolla with an annulate throat and notched lobes. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

Primula glomerata is classified within Primula section Capitatae (subgenus Aleuritia), a group of farinose, head-flowered Sino-Himalayan primulas. Its capitate inflorescence and farina distinguish it from related taxa such as P. capitata. Locally frequent across its alpine range and not currently of conservation concern, it remains sensitive to grazing pressure and habitat disturbance at high elevations.

Author: Pax · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Richards monograph Primula (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh)

Primulaceae

Primula gracilipes

by GP Jürgens

Craib

Bh2008 240 G378
Bhutan Tumching-La, 3600m April
Bh2008 241 P379
Bhutan Tumching-La, 3600m April
Sikkim2004 132 G230
Sikkim/India Singalila 3200m April

Description

Primula gracilipes is a spring-flowering primrose of the eastern Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, Sikkim and the rest of India, Bhutan and adjacent China, with additional material in European collections such as Austria and Japan. Its roughly 198 georeferenced records trace a band along the moist eastern Himalayan ranges. It grows on damp, mossy banks, in open subalpine forest, on rock ledges and along stream margins at roughly 2700-4000 m, flowering very early as the snow recedes. The collections cited above, from Tumching-La in Bhutan at 3600 m and from Singalila on the Sikkim-India border at 3200 m, both in April, are typical of its early-season alpine display.

It is a small rosette-forming perennial with leaves that are at first short and enlarge after flowering, the blades obovate to oblong, crenate to dentate and somewhat farinose or efarinose. The flowers appear almost stemless among the developing leaves on slender pedicels (gracilipes meaning "slender-stalked"), arising from a much-shortened scape so that the inflorescence is nearly sessile. Each flower has a tubular calyx and a flat, rose-pink to mauve-purple corolla with a yellow or greenish eye and notched lobes; the species is heterostylous, with pin and thrum flowers. The fruit is a small capsule shorter than or about equalling the calyx.

Primula gracilipes belongs to section Petiolares, a large and taxonomically difficult eastern Himalayan group characterised by early flowering on a short scape and rosettes that expand after anthesis. Heterostyly promotes outcrossing by long-tongued spring insects active at the snowline. It is prized in alpine horticulture but can be challenging in cultivation. While not formally assessed, its early-flowering habit and dependence on cool, humid subalpine sites make it sensitive to changes in snow cover and montane climate.

Author: Craib · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, The Genus Primula (Richards) monograph

Primulaceae

Primula irregularis

by GP Jürgens

Craib

Bh2008 33 P56
Bhutan Doch-La, 3000m April
Nepal1992 198 P288 ergebnis
Nepal Suketar 2400m March 

Description

Primula irregularis Craib is a Himalayan primrose of restricted range, recorded in GBIF (about 45 occurrences) from Nepal, northern India and Bhutan. It is a plant of cool, humid temperate to subalpine habitats, growing on mossy banks, shaded forest floors, damp rock crevices and the margins of rhododendron and oak forest, broadly between about 2400 and 3500 m. The collections noted from Doch-La in Bhutan at 3000 m in April and from Suketar in eastern Nepal at 2400 m in March show it flowering very early, as winter snow recedes, in the moist, cloud-influenced mid-montane forest belt that characterises its niche.

It is a small farinose perennial forming a basal rosette that resumes growth early from a resting bud. The leaves are obovate to oblong, with a crenate-dentate, somewhat irregularly toothed margin tapering into a winged petiole, the undersurface frequently dusted with whitish or yellowish farina. The flowers open close to the rosette on a very short scape, solitary or in a few-flowered umbel. The corolla is salverform, with a slender tube and a spreading limb of obcordate, deeply emarginate lobes, pale lilac to violet with a contrasting paler or yellow eye. As in other primroses the species is heterostylous, and the small capsule contains numerous minute seeds.

Primula irregularis belongs to section Petiolares, the large Sino-Himalayan assemblage of early-flowering, farinose primulas whose species are notoriously difficult to delimit and which has been the subject of repeated revision. Heterostyly enforces outcrossing between long- and short-styled morphs. With its narrow range and dependence on perennially cool, moist microhabitats, the species is regionally restricted and likely sensitive to warming and habitat disturbance, characteristics shared by many of the high-altitude Petiolares primulas of the eastern Himalaya.

Author: Craib · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Richards' monograph Primula, Flowers of the Himalaya

Primulaceae

Primula kingii

by GP Jürgens

G.Watt 

BhutanPG2011 727 01 01
Bhutan Pele-La, 2750m July

Description

Primula kingii is an Eastern Himalayan endemic of restricted range, recorded from Bhutan, north-eastern India (Sikkim and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh) and southern Xizang (China), with some 57 georeferenced occurrences documented in GBIF. It is a plant of cool, perennially moist situations, favouring boggy alpine and subalpine meadows, seepage slopes, streamsides and damp turf saturated through the monsoon. The species ascends from the upper forest margin into the alpine zone; the photographed material from the Pele-La pass in central Bhutan at about 2750 m in July, flowering near the low end of its altitudinal span, illustrates its occupation of humid passes between drainage systems.

P. kingii is a small, tufted, glabrous perennial herb arising from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. The leaves form a basal rosette, oblanceolate to spathulate, narrowed to a winged petiole, the blade with a finely toothed or subentire margin and lacking the conspicuous farina seen in many congeners. The slender, erect scape bears a one-sided (secund), few-flowered terminal umbel of nodding flowers subtended by small bracts. The calyx is tubular-campanulate and dark, often blackish-purple; the corolla is deep blackish-crimson to maroon, with a narrow tube, a contracted throat and short, spreading or reflexed lobes. The fruit is a small capsule shorter than or about equalling the persistent calyx, releasing numerous minute seeds.

Within Primula the species is placed in the section Amethystina, a group of dark-flowered, nodding-blossomed Sino-Himalayan primroses centred on the eastern ranges. Its sombre maroon corolla and secund inflorescence distinguish it from associated species. As a narrowly distributed alpine bog specialist tied to high-elevation wetland microhabitats, it is potentially sensitive to hydrological change, grazing pressure and shifts in snowmelt timing, though no formal IUCN assessment defines its present status.

Author: G.Watt · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Primula (Richards)

Primulaceae

Primula listeri

by GP Jürgens

King ex Hook.f.

Nepal 1994 205 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Mewa-Khola 2300m April 
Nepal1992 207 P303 ergebnis
Nepal Suketar 2400m March 
Nepal 2001 88 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 3000m, April
Nepal 2001 123 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 3000m, April

Description

Primula listeri is an eastern Himalayan species distributed through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan, southern China (Xizang, Yunnan) and northern Myanmar, with GBIF documenting around 102 georeferenced records concentrated along the wetter eastern arc of the range. It occupies shaded, humid montane environments between roughly 2000 and 3000 m, growing on mossy banks, in the leaf litter of broad-leaved and mixed forest, and along seeping rock faces. The populations imaged in East Nepal at Mewa Khola (2300 m, April), Suketar (2400 m, March) and Gupka Pokhari (3000 m, April) typify its phenology, with flowering coinciding with the early pre-monsoon period when soils remain moist and cool.

The plant is a small, delicate perennial herb forming a slender rootstock from which arises a rosette of thin-textured leaves. The leaves are petiolate, ovate to oblong with a crenate to dentate margin, and frequently sparsely farinose or efarinose beneath. Flowers are borne on a slender scape in a loose few-flowered umbel, each subtended by narrow bracts; the calyx is tubular and lobed, and the corolla is rotate with a narrow tube and notched, lilac to pale violet limb-lobes, the throat marked by an annulus. As in many sect. Petiolares allies the species is heterostylous, producing pin and thrum flowers. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing to release numerous minute seeds.

Taxonomically P. listeri belongs to the species-rich Primula sect. Petiolares, a complex assemblage of vernal-flowering, rosette-forming primroses centred on the eastern Himalaya. Its restricted elevational band and dependence on permanently humid forest microhabitats make it sensitive to forest clearance and desiccation, though it is not formally assessed as threatened. Biogeographically it forms part of the rich Sino-Himalayan endemic flora whose diversification is linked to the monsoon-driven moisture gradient of the eastern ranges.

Author: King ex Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Richards' Primula (monograph)

Primulaceae

Primula nutans

by G & P Jürgens

Georgi

Nepal 99 434 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chautabise-Khola 2800m, June

Description

Primula nutans Georgi is a circumboreal to continental Asian perennial with one of the broadest ranges in the genus, the GBIF dataset listing more than 11,700 occurrences across Fennoscandia (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark), Russia, Greenland, North America (Canada, United States), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia) and into China, with disjunct southern records reaching India and Nepal. It is a plant of moist, often saline or calcareous habitats: coastal meadows, lake and river shores, damp turf, marshy flushes and seepage slopes. The illustrated material from the Chautabise-Khola in west Nepal at 2800 m in June represents the species near the southern, montane edge of its enormous Holarctic distribution, where it persists in damp grassy ground.

It is a small, glabrous perennial herb arising from a slender rootstock, lacking the farinose (mealy) covering of many congeners. The leaves form a basal rosette and are oblong to spatulate or elliptic, entire to faintly toothed, narrowing into a winged petiole. From the rosette rises a slender, leafless scape bearing a terminal umbel of a few nodding flowers, the nodding habit giving the epithet nutans. Each flower has a tubular, five-lobed calyx and a salverform corolla of pink to lilac-purple with a yellow eye, the lobes shallowly notched. The species is typically homostylous in many populations. The fruit is a cylindrical to ovoid capsule that opens by apical valves to shed numerous small seeds.

Primula nutans belongs to section Armerina, a group of small, often coastal or wetland primulas with farina-free foliage and nodding flowers, and has at times been treated under the names P. sibirica or P. finmarchica, reflecting taxonomic revision of this widespread aggregate. Its tolerance of saline and seasonally flooded ground is ecologically distinctive within the genus. Although globally secure given its vast range, peripheral and lowland populations, particularly along Baltic and Arctic coasts, are vulnerable to habitat loss, drainage and shoreline development, and are locally protected.

Author: Georgi · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora Nordica, John Richards – Primula (monograph)