Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Asteraceae

Senecio scandens

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don

Bhutan2012 109
Bhutan Chogcham 2900m, June

Description

Senecio scandens, the climbing groundsel, is a widely distributed scrambling composite of South, East and Southeast Asia, with 5,659 GBIF occurrences across China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines, plus scattered records as an introduction elsewhere. It grows in forest margins, thickets, hedgerows, ravines and disturbed slopes over a very broad altitudinal range from the foothills to over 3000 m. The plant pictured was recorded at Chogcham in Bhutan at 2900 m in June, an upper-temperate setting where this vigorous scrambler clambers over shrubs and forms tangled masses.

It is a perennial herb or subshrub with elongate, climbing or trailing, much-branched stems that can reach several metres. The leaves are alternate, ovate-lanceolate to triangular, often hastate or with a few basal lobes or teeth, acuminate at the apex and shortly petiolate. The numerous yellow capitula are arranged in broad terminal and axillary corymbose panicles; each radiate head has about eight to ten short ray florets around a yellow disc, subtended by a calyculate involucre of narrow phyllaries with conspicuous outer bracteoles. The cypselae are cylindrical and ribbed, bearing a copious white pappus of fine capillary bristles that aids wind dispersal.

Described by Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don, the species belongs to the large, cosmopolitan genus Senecio (tribe Senecioneae). Like many of its relatives it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is used in traditional Asian herbal medicine, particularly in Chinese pharmacopoeia. Abundant, fast-growing and tolerant of disturbance, it is in no way threatened and can behave weedily where introduced.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Senecioneae of the World (Nordenstam), Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton)

Asteraceae

Senecio scandens var. incisus

by GP Jürgens

Franch.

Bhutan2015 327
Bhutan, Trongsa 3100m, October

Description

Senecio scandens var. incisus is a regional variant of the widespread climbing groundsel, recorded from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Nepal, with 338 georeferenced occurrences across the type species' range; the variety is part of an East Asian to Himalayan complex. It grows in moist montane forest margins, thickets, scrub and along streamsides and clearings, scrambling over shrubs and rocks, generally in the temperate zone. It was photographed near Trongsa, Bhutan, at 3100 m in October, flowering in the cool post-monsoon season when its golden heads brighten forest edges and disturbed slopes.

It is a scrambling or climbing perennial herb with long, slender, ribbed and often woody-based stems reaching several metres through surrounding vegetation. The alternate leaves are ovate to triangular-lanceolate, in var. incisus more deeply and irregularly incised or lobed than in the typical form, with toothed margins, an acuminate apex and frequently a pair of small basal lobes. The numerous radiate flower heads are arranged in broad terminal and axillary corymbose panicles; each head has bright yellow ray and disc florets subtended by a uniseriate involucre of green phyllaries with small outer calyculate bracts. The fruit is a cylindrical cypsela bearing a white pappus of fine bristles.

The species belongs to Senecio s.str. in tribe Senecioneae, one of the largest genera of flowering plants; the scandent climbing habit is unusual within an otherwise herbaceous genus. The variety incisus, described by Franchet, is distinguished by its more dissected leaves and treated as part of the variable S. scandens aggregate. Like the type, it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is used in traditional Chinese medicine. It is common and not of conservation concern.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Senecioneae of the World (Nordenstam & Pelser studies)

Asteraceae

Shangwua denticulata 

by G & P Jürgens

(DC.) Raab-Straube & Yu J.Wang

Garw 2005 64 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Valley of flowers 3400m, September
Garw 2005 170 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Shertoli 3100m, September

Description

Shangwua denticulata is an alpine perennial herb of the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau region, recorded from China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, with about 170 occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of high open habitats, growing on alpine and subalpine slopes, in meadows, on screes and among rocks, generally above the treeline. The photographed plants come from the Garhwal Himalaya of India, at the Valley of Flowers (3400 m) and at Shertoli (3100 m), both recorded in September as the late-summer alpine flora comes into flower and fruit, an elevation and setting characteristic of this cold-mountain specialist.

The plant arises from a perennial rootstock and produces erect or ascending stems bearing alternate leaves; the leaves are oblong to lanceolate with toothed (denticulate) margins, as the epithet records, and are often somewhat hairy. The flower heads (capitula) are borne singly or in small clusters and are surrounded by a many-rowed involucre of bracts, the latter frequently tinged dark or purplish as in many alpine composites. As a member of the tribe Cardueae the capitula are discoid, composed wholly of tubular, purplish florets, and the achenes are crowned by a pappus of fine bristles that aids wind dispersal.

Shangwua is a small genus recently segregated from Saussurea on molecular and morphological grounds, the species formerly treated under that genus; the recombination by Raab-Straube and Wang reflects modern phylogenetic revision of the Saussurea complex. As a high-alpine thistle relative, S. denticulata is adapted to short growing seasons, intense radiation and cold, and its specialised montane distribution makes it of biogeographic interest within the rich Sino-Himalayan Cardueae flora.

Author: (DC.) Raab-Straube & Yu J.Wang · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Saussurea and allies revision (Raab-Straube)

Rosaceae

Sibbaldia cuneifolia

by G & P Jürgens

(Bertol.) Paule & Soják

Bhutan2012 910
Bhutan Tumching-La 4000m, October
Sikkim2011 27
Bhutan Lachen 2800m, June

Description

Sibbaldia cuneifolia (Bertol.) Paule & Soják is a cushion-forming perennial of the high Himalaya and adjoining Central Asian mountains, distributed across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and SW China, with additional records from temperate Europe (Austria, Switzerland, Britain, Sweden, Finland) reflecting both a wide alpine range and naturalised or rock-garden occurrences; the roughly 184 georeferenced collections concentrate in the Sino-Himalayan alpine belt. It inhabits open stony slopes, screes, glacial moraine, alpine turf and the margins of late-melting snowbeds. The species ascends to considerable altitude, as the photographed material from the Tumching-La pass in Bhutan at about 4,000 m in October and from Lachen at 2,800 m in June illustrates, spanning the subalpine to high-alpine zones.

It is a low, mat-forming herb arising from a woody, branched rootstock and slender creeping rhizome. The leaves are trifoliolate and basal in dense rosettes, the obovate-cuneate leaflets wedge-shaped at the base and conspicuously few-toothed at the truncate apex, often somewhat fleshy and sparsely strigose. Short cymes bear small flowers with five green sepals alternating with smaller epicalyx segments, and five minute yellow petals shorter than the calyx; stamens are typically five, and the carpels few, ripening into small dry achenes seated on a dry receptacle.

The genus Sibbaldia is closely allied to Potentilla, into which it is sometimes merged, and the basionym links this taxon to the Potentilla ambigua complex referenced on the source page. Adapted to short growing seasons, intense insolation and frost, these prostrate cushions exemplify alpine stress tolerance. The species is widespread and not considered threatened, though high-altitude populations are sensitive to grazing pressure and climate-driven upslope shifts.

Author: (Bertol.) Paule & Soják · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 9, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Soják: Notes on Potentilla and allied genera (2008)

Rosaceae

Sibbaldia parviflora

by G & P Jürgens

Willd.

Garh 07 206 ergebnis
India Garhwal Panwali 3300m, June

Description

Sibbaldia parviflora is a low alpine herb with a broad distribution spanning the Caucasus, Anatolia, Iran, Central Asia and the Himalaya, recorded from Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and China, with scattered European and other collections reflecting cultivation and herbarium material. Its roughly 662 georeferenced records mark a common and wide-ranging mountain species. It grows in alpine meadows, short grassy turf, stony slopes and grazed pasture, typically at about 2700-4500 m. The collection from Panwali in Garhwal, India at 3300 m in June is representative of its early-summer flowering on open Himalayan pasture.

It is a small, tufted, somewhat hairy perennial growing from a stout, branched, woody rootstock that gives rise to crowded rosettes. The leaves are trifoliolate with obovate to cuneate leaflets that are toothed at the truncate apex, often silky-pubescent and greyish-green. The small flowers are clustered in compact cymes on short scapes; each has five sepals alternating with an epicalyx and five small, narrow, pale yellow to whitish petals shorter than the sepals, hence parviflora, with five to ten stamens and few carpels seated on a slightly hairy receptacle. The fruit is a small cluster of dry glabrous achenes.

Sibbaldia is a small genus of cushion- and mat-forming alpine herbs closely allied to Potentilla, and recent molecular work has both narrowed and reshaped its limits; S. parviflora remains among its core species. The dwarf rosette habit and reduced flowers are adaptations to cold, grazed, high-radiation alpine environments, and pollination is by generalist alpine insects. Given its very wide trans-Asian range and tolerance of grazing, it is of least conservation concern.

Author: Willd. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Sibbaldia phylogeny (Smedmark) monograph

Caryophyllaceae

Silene stracheyi

by GP Jürgens

Edgew.

BhutanPG2011 832 01 01
Bhutan Chele-La, 3400m July

Description

Silene stracheyi is a Himalayan campion restricted to the high mountains of India, Bhutan and Nepal, known from only about 17 GBIF records and thus among the more poorly documented members of the genus in the region. It grows in open subalpine and alpine habitats, including rocky slopes, grassy pastures, scrub margins and stony banks, generally between about 3000 and 4000 m. The plant photographed at Chele-La in western Bhutan at 3400 m in July, flowering at the height of the monsoon summer, typifies its association with cool, well-drained high-mountain grassland and rock.

It is a perennial herb arising from a stout rootstock, with erect to ascending stems that are often glandular-pubescent in the upper parts. The leaves are opposite, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, sessile or shortly stalked and entire. The flowers are borne in a lax cyme; each has the inflated, tubular to campanulate, conspicuously veined calyx characteristic of Silene, within which sit five clawed petals, usually pink to purplish, the limbs notched or bifid and often bearing a small corona at the throat. The stamens and styles are typical of the genus, and the fruit is a capsule dehiscing by apical teeth to scatter the numerous reniform seeds.

Silene is one of the largest genera of Caryophyllaceae, with many narrowly endemic high-alpine species in the Sino-Himalayan region, of which S. stracheyi is one. The tubular calyx and clawed petals reflect adaptation to long-tongued and nocturnal pollinators. Given its small known range and few documented populations, the species warrants conservation attention, as such restricted Himalayan campions are vulnerable to grazing intensification and the upslope shifts driven by a warming climate.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Caryophyllaceae), Bocquet monographic studies of Silene

Crassulaceae

Sinocrassula indica

by GP Jürgens

A. Berger

Nepal 99 949 ergebnis
West-Nepal Pamela 2700m, July

Description

Sinocrassula indica is a succulent biennial to short-lived perennial herb distributed through the Sino-Himalayan region, with records from China, India, Nepal and Bhutan and scattered naturalised or cultivated occurrences elsewhere. It grows on dry rocky banks, cliff ledges, stony slopes and walls in the montane belt, typically from about 1500 to 3500 m, rooting in shallow gritty pockets and crevices where competition is slight. The photographed plant comes from Pamela in West Nepal at around 2700 m, flowering in July during the monsoon. With over 650 georeferenced occurrences it is a frequently collected and widely recognised crassulaceous element of the Himalayan foothills and ranges.

The plant produces a basal rosette of fleshy, oblanceolate to spathulate leaves, glabrous or finely papillose, often flushed reddish, from which arises an erect, leafy, sometimes branched inflorescence-bearing stem. The cauline leaves are smaller, sessile and crowded. Flowers are numerous, borne in a dense terminal thyrse of cymes; they are small, with five erect or connivent petals that are greenish-yellow to dull red, scarcely spreading, giving the flower an urn-shaped appearance. There are five stamens, and the carpels are erect with short styles. The fruit is a cluster of follicles releasing fine seeds, after which the monocarpic flowering rosette dies.

Sinocrassula was segregated from Crassula and Sedum on the basis of its erect, barely opening petals and Asian distribution, and S. indica is the most widespread species of the genus. The taxon is morphologically variable in leaf shape and flower colour, and several infraspecific forms have been described. It is occasionally grown by succulent enthusiasts. Being common and ecologically adaptable across a broad range, it is of no conservation concern.

Author: A. Berger · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Crassulaceae of the World (monograph)

Rutaceae

Skimmia multinervia

by GP Jürgens

C.C. Huang

Bhutan2014 596
Bhutan Phobjika 2400m, May
Nepal 1994 84 ergebnis
Ost-Nepal Jaljale Himal
3000m April

Description

Skimmia multinervia is an evergreen shrub of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent China, with GBIF records (about 294) confined to China and Bhutan but its wider native range extending along the Himalaya into Nepal and northeastern India. It occupies the cool, humid montane and subalpine forest zone, as shown by collections at Phobjika in Bhutan around 2400 m in May and on the Jaljale Himal in eastern Nepal near 3000 m in April. There it grows in the shaded understorey of broad-leaved and conifer forest, among rhododendrons and on mossy slopes, favouring moist, organic-rich, well-drained soils.

The plant is a compact, much-branched aromatic shrub whose foliage releases a pungent citrus scent when crushed, owing to the translucent oil glands typical of Rutaceae. The leaves are alternate, often crowded toward the branch tips, elliptic to oblanceolate, leathery and entire, with the numerous lateral veins to which the epithet refers. The species is functionally dioecious, bearing small whitish to cream flowers in terminal panicles with four to five petals; male and female plants must grow together for fruit to set. The fruit is a fleshy, bright red drupe persisting through the colder months and dispersed by birds.

Skimmia is a small Asian genus within the citrus family, distinguished by its evergreen aromatic habit, dioecy and red drupaceous fruits; its species, including S. multinervia, are valued in temperate horticulture for winter colour. As a forest-understorey shrub dependent on intact, moist montane woodland, it is sensitive to forest clearance and grazing, though across its range it remains locally frequent and is not regarded as globally threatened.

Author: C.C. Huang · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 11, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, A Monograph of the Genus Skimmia (Rutaceae)

Smilacaceae

Smilax munita

by G & P Jürgens

S.C.Chen

Sikkim 2006 446 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 2700m, May

Description

Smilax munita is an eastern Himalayan greenbrier distributed from Nepal through Sikkim and West Bengal in India to Bhutan, north-eastern Myanmar and adjacent China, with around 90 GBIF records reflecting a fairly restricted montane range. It is a climber of temperate broad-leaved and mixed forest, forest margins and thickets, scrambling over shrubs and small trees, typically between about 2,000 and 3,000 m. The plant photographed at Kishong in West Bengal, India, at 2,700 m flowering in May is characteristic of the cool, humid Sikkim-Himalayan forest belt where the genus is well represented.

The plant is a dioecious, woody to subwoody perennial climber arising from a creeping rhizome, the stems armed with stout, scattered prickles (reflected in the epithet munita, "armed"). The leaves are alternate, simple, leathery, ovate to elliptic with several prominent arcuate-convergent main veins, and bear a pair of slender tendrils at the base of the petiole that serve for climbing. The flowers are small, unisexual and greenish, borne in axillary umbels; the perianth consists of six tepals, with six stamens in male flowers and a superior three-locular ovary in female flowers. The fruit is a small globose berry, ripening dark, containing few seeds.

Smilax is the sole large genus of the monocot family Smilacaceae, a lineage of vining herbs and lianas with reticulate-veined leaves and basal tendrils unusual among monocots. Many congeners yield the medicinal "sarsaparilla," and Himalayan species are locally used. The combination of prickly stems, coriaceous tri- to multiveined leaves and the high-montane distribution distinguishes S. munita within the eastern Himalayan members of the genus.

Author: S.C.Chen · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 24, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, GBIF, Koyama: Smilacaceae of Eastern Asia

Orobanchaceae

Sopubia trifida

by GP Jürgens

Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don

Bh09 353 P569
Bhutan Wangdi, 2400m June
Bh09 354 G570
Bhutan Wangdi, 2600m June

Description

Sopubia trifida Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don is a slender hemiparasitic herb of broad palaeotropical distribution, recorded across South and Southeast Asia and tropical Africa, including China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea and several African nations; GBIF lists around 840 occurrences. It favours open grassy slopes, savanna, terraced field margins, scrub and disturbed sunny ground, mostly from the lowlands up to about 2700 m. The photographed plants were collected near Wangdi in Bhutan at 2400 and 2600 m in June, in the open warm-temperate grassland where this erect parasite grows attached to the roots of grasses.

The plant is an erect annual or perennial herb with stiff, wiry, often branched and minutely scabrous stems. The leaves are opposite below and alternate above, narrowly linear, sessile and frequently divided into a few filiform segments, the epithet trifida referring to this three-parted condition. The flowers are borne in lax terminal spike-like racemes; the corolla is rotate, typically pink to rose-purple, with a short tube and five subequal spreading lobes, while the calyx is campanulate and ribbed. The fruit is a small ovoid, loculicidal capsule containing numerous minute, angular seeds.

Now placed in the broadly recircumscribed Orobanchaceae following the transfer of hemiparasitic genera from the former Scrophulariaceae, Sopubia is a facultative root parasite drawing water and nutrients from neighbouring grasses through haustoria while retaining photosynthetic capacity. Its wide tropical range and tolerance of disturbed grassland account for its abundance. The species is common and not of conservation concern, and is sometimes regarded as a weedy associate of pastures and fallow land.

Author: Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Ceylon, Fischer revision of Sopubia and allied Orobanchaceae