Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea auriculata

by GP Jürgens

K.Schum.

Sikkim2003 49 W68
Sikkim above Yoksam 2200m 08.2003
Nepal 99 909 ergebnis
West-Nepal Hanke 2700m, July

Description

Roscoea auriculata is an eastern Himalayan terrestrial ginger recorded from India, China, Nepal and Bhutan across some 126 GBIF occurrences. The photographed plants were found above Yoksam in Sikkim at 2200 m in August and at Hanke in West Nepal at 2700 m in July, locations typical of its range in moist temperate forest glades, grassy banks and open slopes between roughly 2000 and 3000 m. Unlike most members of the predominantly tropical Zingiberaceae, Roscoea is adapted to cool montane conditions, dying back to a tuberous rootstock to overwinter and emerging with the summer monsoon.

The plant is an erect perennial herb arising from clustered fleshy, tuberous roots. The leaves are few, lanceolate and arranged distichously, their sheaths forming a false stem (pseudostem); the diagnostic feature signalled by the epithet is the conspicuously auriculate leaf-sheath base. The flowers are large, showy and orchid-like, deep violet to purple, emerging successively from a terminal cluster; each has a hooded dorsal corolla lobe, two erect lateral staminode-like structures and a broad, often bilobed reflexed labellum, with a single fertile stamen.

Note that the input family is given as "Zingiberacaea", an evident misspelling of Zingiberaceae, in which Roscoea is correctly placed. The genus is celebrated for its convergence on an orchid-like floral form, an adaptation for pollination by long-tongued bees, and is much prized in cultivation for hardy temperate gardens. R. auriculata has a relatively restricted eastern Himalayan distribution; though not formally threatened, it is locally collected and sensitive to habitat disturbance.

Author: K.Schum. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Cowley – The Genus Roscoea (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew monograph)

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea bhutanica

by GP Jürgens

Ngamr.

BhutanPG2011 734 01 01
Bhutan Has-Valley, 2750m June
Bh09 200 P339
Bhutan above Thimphu, 3000m June

Description

Roscoea bhutanica is a Himalayan terrestrial ginger known chiefly from Bhutan and adjacent southern China, with around 48 GBIF occurrences documenting its restricted Sino-Himalayan range. Unlike most Zingiberaceae, the genus Roscoea is adapted to cool temperate climates, and this species grows in open grassy slopes, forest clearings, banks and meadows in the upper temperate zone, broadly between 2,500 and 3,400 m. The plants photographed in the Haa Valley at 2,750 m and above Thimphu at 3,000 m, both in June, capture it flowering at the onset of the summer monsoon, when the rootstock breaks dormancy with the first rains.

It is a deciduous perennial herb arising from a cluster of fleshy, fasciculate roots and a short rhizome, producing an erect pseudostem formed by overlapping leaf sheaths. The leaves are few, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate and glabrous, the lowermost reduced to bladeless sheaths. The inflorescence is terminal, the flowers emerging successively; each has a long, slender corolla tube, a hooded dorsal corolla lobe, two petaloid lateral staminodes, and a large, deflexed, bilobed labellum that is typically purple to violet, providing a conspicuous landing platform. The fruit is an elongate capsule containing numerous arillate seeds.

Roscoea comprises some twenty species disjunctly distributed across the Himalaya and the mountains of south-west China, a pattern interpreted as a response to Himalayan uplift and monsoon climate. R. bhutanica was segregated relatively recently from the R. tumjensis-R. alpina complex on floral and phenological characters, and its long, narrow corolla tube indicates pollination by long-tongued insects. Its limited range and dependence on undisturbed montane grassland make it of conservation interest given grazing and land-use change in the eastern Himalaya; it has not yet been formally assessed for the IUCN Red List. (The family is given as printed in the source; the species belongs to Zingiberaceae.)

Author: Ngamr. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Roscoea (Jill Cowley, Kew monograph), Zingiberaceae of the Himalaya

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea nepalensis

by G & P Jürgens

Cowley

Nepal 99 396 ergebnis
West-Nepal Talphi 2830m, June
Nepal 99 923 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2750m, July
Nepal 99 925 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2750m, July

Description

Roscoea nepalensis is a tuberous-rooted herb of the western and central Himalaya, recorded by GBIF chiefly from Nepal and adjoining SW China, with a modest tally of around 19 georeferenced occurrences reflecting its localised distribution. Unlike most members of the ginger family, Roscoea is montane and temperate rather than tropical, and this species inhabits open grassy slopes, forest margins and meadows of the middle hills. The photographed populations in West Nepal at Talphi (2,830 m, June) and Roha (2,750 m, July) are characteristic, the plants emerging and flowering with the onset of the summer monsoon at around 2,700–2,900 m.

The plant is a deciduous perennial arising from fleshy fascicled roots, with an erect leafy pseudostem formed by the imbricate leaf sheaths. The leaves are lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, sheathing at the base. The flowers are produced in a terminal spike, exserted from or partly enclosed by the leaf sheaths, and are strongly zygomorphic and orchid-like: a tubular calyx, a trilobed corolla with a hooded dorsal lobe, prominent petaloid lateral staminodes, and a large, deflexed, bilobed labellum, typically purple to violet. The fruit is an elongate capsule containing arillate seeds.

The family is given verbatim as Zingiberacaea (a misspelling of Zingiberaceae). Roscoea is a remarkable case of a predominantly tropical lineage that has radiated into cool Himalayan and Sino-Himalayan highlands, its summer-deciduous, tuberous habit being an adaptation to a markedly seasonal monsoon climate. The orchid-like floral architecture promotes pollination by long-tongued insects. The genus is of considerable horticultural interest, and species delimitation within the R. purpurea complex, to which R. nepalensis is allied, has been clarified by molecular and morphological study.

Author: Cowley · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Nepal, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Cowley: The Genus Roscoea (Kew, 2007)

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea purpurea

by GP Jürgens

Sm.

Nepal 95 114 P202 ergebnis
Nepal south of Rupien La 3200m October
Nepal 99 909 ergebnis
Nepal Sepka 2760 m, JUly

Description

Roscoea purpurea is a tuberous-rooted ginger of the Himalaya, ranging through Nepal, northern India, Bhutan and adjacent China, with peripheral records (KR, MY, US, ZZ) reflecting horticultural cultivation, as it is widely grown as a hardy ornamental. Of nearly 400 georeferenced records, the densest concentration falls in the central and eastern Nepalese hills. It grows on open grassy slopes, in forest clearings, on banks and among shrubs in the upper temperate and subalpine belt. The photographed plants from south of the Rupien La at 3200 m in October and from Sepka at 2760 m in July illustrate its broad altitudinal span and its summer-to-autumn flowering, timed to the monsoon when the rootstock is in active growth.

It is a deciduous perennial herb arising from a cluster of fleshy, fascicled root tubers and a short rhizome. The pseudostem is formed by the overlapping leaf sheaths and bears several lanceolate to oblong, distichous leaves that are smooth and often with a sheathing, ligulate base. The showy flowers emerge from the leaf axils or a short terminal spike; each is enclosed by a green bract and has a slender corolla tube. The perianth is strongly zygomorphic, typically purple to lilac, with a hooded dorsal corolla lobe, narrow lateral lobes, and a large, conspicuously bilobed, deflexed labellum that serves as the pollinator platform. A single fertile stamen with a spurred connective and an inferior ovary produce an elongate capsule.

Roscoea is remarkable within the otherwise tropical Zingiberaceae for its adaptation to cold, seasonally dry montane climates, the genus disjunct between the Himalaya and the mountains of south-west China. R. purpurea is the type-associated and most variable Himalayan species, encompassing several named colour and form variants, and is pollinated chiefly by long-tongued bees and, in some populations, by long-proboscid flies. It remains locally common and is not considered threatened.

Author: Sm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal, Cowley's The Genus Roscoea (Kew)

Zingiberacaea

Roscoea tibetica

by G & P Jürgens

Batalin

BhutanPG2011 32
Bhutan Pele-La, 2800m June
Bh09 248 G414
Bhutan Tibetica, 3100m June

Description

Roscoea tibetica is a small, hardy terrestrial ginger of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent China, recorded from China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal across about 309 occurrences. Unusually among the largely tropical Zingiberacaea, it is a montane plant of cool grassy slopes, open forest, meadows and stream banks, growing between roughly 2500 and 4000 m. The illustrated plants come from Bhutan, at Pele-La (2800 m) and a locality recorded as Tibetica (3100 m), both flowering in June soon after the start of the growing season, when the genus emerges from dormant rootstocks.

The plant is among the smallest of its genus, usually only 5-15 cm tall, arising from a cluster of fleshy, fasciculate tuberous roots. The few leaves are lanceolate to oblong, sheathing at the base and often only partly expanded at flowering. The flowers, one or few in succession, are borne low among the leaf sheaths and are strongly zygomorphic and orchid-like; the corolla is pale to deep violet or purple, comprising a hooded dorsal lobe, two lateral staminodial petaloid structures and a large, often reflexed and notched labellum. A single fertile stamen and an inferior ovary characterise the family; the fruit is a capsule.

The Sino-Himalayan genus Roscoea is remarkable for its temperate, high-altitude ecology, an adaptation involving dormant tuberous roots that survive cold winters. The orchid-like flowers are pollinated chiefly by long-tongued bees and, in some species, hawkmoths. Widely distributed and locally frequent, R. tibetica is not regarded as threatened, though it is valued as a hardy ornamental and a model for studies of pollination and montane radiation.

Author: Batalin · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, The Genus Roscoea (Cowley, Kew monograph), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Rosaceae

Rubus calycinus

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex D.Don

Bh2008 328 P506
Bhutan Chendebji, 2100m April
Sikkim2004 88 P155
Sikkim West-Bengal, Bersay 2600m April
Sikkim 2006 163 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Molley 3000m, May

Description

Rubus calycinus is a creeping Himalayan bramble distributed across China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and into Southeast Asia, with some 255 GBIF occurrences. It is a plant of the floor of moist temperate and subalpine forest, growing on humus-rich banks, mossy slopes and shaded forest margins, generally between about 1800 and 3300 m. The documented populations span Chendebji in Bhutan at 2100 m, Bersay in Sikkim/West Bengal at 2600 m, and Molley at 3000 m, all flowering in April and May, illustrating its early-season anthesis as the forest understorey greens.

Unlike the familiar scrambling brambles, R. calycinus is a small, prostrate, herbaceous to weakly woody perennial with slender, creeping and rooting stems that form low mats, the stems sparsely armed or nearly unarmed and bearing scattered bristles. The leaves are simple, broadly cordate-orbicular and shallowly three- to five-lobed, crenate-serrate at the margin and pilose on both surfaces. The flowers are solitary, white, with a conspicuously enlarged, leafy, lobed calyx that exceeds the petals and gives the species its name. The aggregate fruit is a small reddish drupelet cluster of few segments.

The species belongs to Rubus subgenus Chamaebatus (the herbaceous, simple-leaved creeping brambles), a distinctive group within the genus. It is widespread and not of conservation concern, valued ecologically as ground cover that stabilises forest-floor soils and provides minor forage and fruit for wildlife.

Author: Wall. ex D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Focke monograph Species Ruborum

Rosaceae

Rubus fockeanus

by G & P Jürgens

Kurz

BhutanPG2011 91
Bhutan Chogcham, 3100m June

Sikkim 2006 162 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Molley 3000m, May

Description

Rubus fockeanus is a diminutive, creeping bramble of the high mountains of Asia, ranging through China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Afghanistan and Myanmar, with GBIF recording over 400 occurrences; the records from Great Britain and New Zealand represent introduced or cultivated material. It grows in damp alpine and subalpine meadows, mossy forest floors, streamsides and the margins of rhododendron scrub, broadly between 2500 and 4000 m. The two illustrated gatherings, from Chogcham in Bhutan at 3100 m in June and from Molley in West Bengal at 3000 m in May, are typical of its preference for cool, moist, sheltered montane ground.

Unlike the woody, arching brambles of the lowlands, R. fockeanus is a slender, herbaceous to subherbaceous perennial creeper, rooting at the nodes of prostrate stems to form mats, and unarmed or nearly so. The leaves are ternate (trifoliolate), with rounded, crenate-toothed leaflets. The flowers are small, solitary and white, with five petals, five sepals and numerous stamens surrounding an apocarpous gynoecium. The fruit is a small, red, aggregate drupelet cluster (an etaerio of drupelets) typical of Rubus, edible and dispersed by birds and mammals.

Within the immense and taxonomically intricate genus Rubus, this species belongs to a group of small, herbaceous, creeping alpine brambles (allied to subgenus Chamaebatus / Cylactis), distinguished by their ternate leaves, solitary flowers and matted habit. Widespread and locally common across the high Asian mountains, it is of no conservation concern and contributes to alpine ground cover and to the diet of montane fauna.

Author: Kurz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Rubus monographic treatments

Rosaceae

Rubus fragarioides

by GP Jürgens

Bertol.

Sikkim2011 234
Sikkim Yumthang 3700m, June
Bh09 281 P463
Bhutan Pele-La 2900m, June

Description

Rubus fragarioides is a dwarf, strawberry-like bramble of the Sino-Himalayan region, recorded from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, with about 166 occurrence records mapping a range centred on the eastern Himalaya and adjacent western China. It grows in open coniferous and rhododendron forest, forest clearings, alpine meadow margins and mossy banks at upper-temperate to subalpine elevations. The photographed populations—at Yumthang in Sikkim at 3700 m and at Pele-La in Bhutan at 2900 m, both flowering in June—reflect its typical occurrence in cool, humid montane habitats.

Unlike the familiar cane-forming raspberries, this is a diminutive, almost herbaceous perennial spreading by slender creeping rhizomes and bearing only a low, scarcely woody aerial system. The leaves are usually simple to shallowly three-lobed or ternate, with a cordate base, doubly serrate margins and a wrinkled, sparsely hairy surface, recalling those of a strawberry, whence the epithet fragarioides. The flowers are solitary or few, with five spreading white petals, a leafy calyx and numerous stamens and carpels on a domed receptacle. The aggregate fruit is a small red drupelet-cluster, edible and dispersed by birds and small mammals.

Rubus is an enormous and taxonomically difficult genus complicated by hybridisation, polyploidy and apomixis; R. fragarioides, described by Bertoloni, belongs among the low-growing creeping species sometimes segregated in subgenus Chamaebatus. Its mat-forming habit aids soil stabilisation in fragile alpine clearings. Widespread within its montane belt, it is not considered threatened, though it depends on the persistence of intact subalpine forest.

Author: Bertol. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Rosaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Grierson & Long Flora of Bhutan, Focke's monograph Species Ruborum

Rosaceae

Rubus macilentus

by GP Jürgens

P.J.Müll. & Timb.-Lagr.

Bh2008 39 G69
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3000m April
Bh2008 40 G68
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3000m April

Description

Rubus macilentus is a Himalayan bramble distributed across China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan, with about 341 GBIF occurrences (a few extralimital records reflecting cultivation or misattribution). It occupies forest margins, scrub, clearings and thickets along the temperate Himalaya, generally between roughly 2000 and 3500 m. The plant photographed at Dochu-La in western Bhutan at about 3000 m in April represents its typical setting in moist montane forest and shrubbery, flowering in spring when the white blossoms appear among the arching, prickly canes.

The species is a scrambling deciduous shrub with slender, often slightly glaucous biennial canes bearing scattered recurved prickles. The leaves are pinnately or ternately compound with three to five ovate, doubly serrate leaflets that are green above and paler, often thinly tomentose, beneath, the petioles and rachis armed with small prickles. The flowers are borne singly or in few-flowered cymes, with five spreading white petals, a tomentose calyx of reflexed sepals, and numerous stamens surrounding many carpels. The fruit is an aggregate of drupelets, ripening red to dark purple-black and detaching from the dry receptacle.

Rubus is a taxonomically complex, near-cosmopolitan genus in which apomixis, polyploidy and hybridisation generate many microspecies; the Himalayan brambles, including R. macilentus, are correspondingly difficult to delimit. The fleshy aggregate fruits are dispersed by birds and mammals, and the species contributes to successional scrub on disturbed and forest-edge ground. With a wide Himalayan distribution and ready colonisation of cleared habitats it is of least concern, and like other brambles it can play a pioneering role in regenerating montane vegetation.

Author: P.J.Müll. & Timb.-Lagr. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Kalkman's treatment of Rosaceae

Sabiaceae

Sabia campanulata

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Nepal 97 268 P552
Nepal Bagong-Khola 2700m April

Description

Sabia campanulata is a climbing shrub of the Himalaya and southwestern China, recorded from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Pakistan and Japan, with around 1019 georeferenced occurrences in GBIF. It grows in temperate broad-leaved and mixed forests, thicket margins, forest edges and along ravines, scrambling over shrubs and small trees on humid montane slopes. The photographed plant from the Bagong Khola in Nepal at 2700 m in April is typical of these cool mid-montane forest habitats, where the species flowers in spring as new growth emerges along streamside woodland.

It is a deciduous woody climber or scandent shrub with slender, somewhat flexuous branches. The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to elliptic-oblong, entire-margined, acuminate at the apex and with a thin to slightly leathery texture, the venation pinnate and prominent beneath. The flowers are small and borne solitary or in few-flowered axillary clusters; the corolla is campanulate, as the epithet indicates, with five greenish to dull purple or yellowish petals, five sepals, and five stamens opposite the petals, set on a small fleshy disc. The fruit is a flattened, reniform to obovoid drupe, paired or solitary, ripening blue to bluish-black, with a single curved seed and a reticulate endocarp.

The genus Sabia gives its name to the small family Sabiaceae, an isolated lineage of the basal eudicots (Proteales sensu lato in some treatments) with no close affinities among other Himalayan woody climbers. Sabia campanulata is distinguished within the genus by its relatively large bell-shaped flowers. Its drupaceous, bird-dispersed fruits aid seed dispersal through forest. Locally distributed but not rare across its montane range, it is not regarded as threatened, though dependent on intact temperate forest.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 5, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, A Revision of the Genus Sabia (Sabiaceae)