Tag:

Subalpine (2500-3500 m)

Orchideaceae

Calanthe tricarinata

by GP Jürgens

Lindl.

Bh09 214 G369
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3000m June
Bh09 215 G361
Bhutan Dochu-La, 3000m June
Nepal 99 190 ergebnis
West-Nepal Lara-Lake 3000m, June
Garh 07 91 ergebnis
India Garhwal Trijugi Narayan 2500m, June

Description

Calanthe tricarinata is a distinctive terrestrial orchid widely distributed from the western Himalayas (Pakistan, northwest India) through Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar to China, Taiwan, and Japan. With over 1,000 documented GBIF occurrences, it is one of the better-known Himalayan Calanthe species. It inhabits cool, moist montane forests and subalpine Rhododendron scrub at 1,500–3,500 m elevation.

The plant is an evergreen species with short, stout pseudobulbs. Leaves are 3–5, broadly elliptic, 20–35 cm long, plicate, and persist through winter. The inflorescence is an erect raceme 25–40 cm tall, bearing 8–15 flowers. The flowers are unmistakable: 3–4 cm across, with olive-green to yellowish-green sepals and petals, contrasting strikingly with the large, pendent, reddish-brown to maroon lip. The lip is deeply trilobed, the mid-lobe bifid, with three prominent parallel keels (carinae) on the disc — the diagnostic feature reflected in the name 'tricarinata'. The spur is short, 5–8 mm. Flowering occurs from May to July.

Calanthe tricarinata is readily identified by its unique green-and-brown colour combination, unlike any other Himalayan orchid. The species was photographed at the Dochu-La pass (3,000 m) in Bhutan, also recorded from the Lara Lake area of western Nepal and Garhwal (India) — documenting its broad Himalayan distribution.

Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 3, Flora of Nepal Checklist, GBIF, Pearce & Cribb: The Orchids of Bhutan (2002)

Calceolaraceae

Calceolaria tripartita

by GP Jürgens

Ruiz & Pav.

Sikkim2003 57 G76 ergebnis
Sikkim above Yoksam 2750m 08.2003
Sikkim2003 58 P78 ergebnis
Sikkim above Yoksam 2750m 08.2003

Description

Calceolaria tripartita is a Neotropical annual herb native to the Andean region of South and Central America, its GBIF distribution centred on Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil and adjacent countries, but it has become a widespread weed of warm-temperate uplands and is now naturalised in New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and parts of the Himalaya. It colonises moist, disturbed ground, streamsides, cultivated land, ditches and roadside banks. The photographed plant from above Yoksam in Sikkim at around 2750 m, recorded in August, documents this naturalised Himalayan occurrence, where the monsoon-moistened, disturbed montane habitat closely mirrors its native ecology.

The plant is a slender, erect, glandular-pubescent annual with branched, somewhat succulent stems. The leaves are opposite, the lower often pinnately three-parted (whence tripartita) into toothed segments, the upper smaller. The flowers are borne in lax terminal cymes and display the distinctive Calceolaria form: a strongly two-lipped, yellow, slipper- or pouch-shaped corolla, the small upper lip and the inflated, saccate lower lip enclosing the two stamens. The fruit is an ovoid, septicidal capsule releasing abundant minute, reticulate seeds well suited to wind and water dispersal.

The genus, the slipperworts, is now placed in its own family Calceolariaceae, formerly within the Scrophulariaceae. The pouched corolla is associated with specialised oil-collecting bee pollination in its native Andean range. As an aggressive colonist of disturbed ground, C. tripartita exemplifies a Neotropical weed that has crossed into Old World mountain systems through human agency; it is of no conservation concern and is, rather, regarded locally as an invasive.

Author: Ruiz & Pav. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Nepal, A Revision of the Genus Calceolaria (Calceolariaceae), Flora of Ecuador

Ranunculaceae

Caltha scaposa

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

BhutanPG2011 448
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Warrtlang-La, 4500m June
Sikkim2003 105 P143
Sikkim below Dzongri 3850m 08.2003
Nepal 2001 312 ergebnis ergebnis
Nepal (Gorkha) Kharka 3100m, May

Description

Caltha scaposa is a high-alpine marsh marigold of the Sino-Himalayan region, with records from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar and disjunct documentation in Korea and Mongolia; GBIF aggregates over 1,000 occurrences. It is a plant of wet alpine turf, snowmelt flushes, streamsides and moist gravelly meadows, typically between roughly 3,100 and 4,500 m. The collections illustrated span this gradient, from Warrtlang-La on the Ludlow-Sherriff trail in Bhutan at about 4,500 m in June, to the slopes below Dzongri in Sikkim near 3,850 m, and a comparatively low Gorkha station in Nepal at 3,100 m in May, where it flowers as the snow recedes.

It is a small, glabrous, somewhat fleshy perennial herb arising from a short, fibrous-rooted rhizome. The leaves are largely basal and long-petiolate, with cordate to reniform-orbicular blades bearing crenate margins and a deep cordate sinus. The flowering stem is scapose, as the epithet indicates, usually leafless and bearing a solitary terminal flower. The showy perianth consists of five to several petaloid, golden-yellow sepals, true petals being absent; the numerous stamens surround a cluster of free, sessile carpels. The fruit is an aggregate of spreading, beaked follicles dehiscing along the ventral suture.

Within Caltha, the scapose habit and solitary flower distinguish C. scaposa from the leafy-stemmed, multiflowered C. palustris group. As an obligate wetland species of the alpine zone, it indicates permanently moist soils and is pollinated chiefly by flies and early-season insects. Though locally common across a wide range and not presently considered threatened, its dependence on snowmelt hydrology makes populations sensitive to glacial retreat and altered precipitation in a warming Himalaya.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Tamura's monograph of Ranunculaceae

Campanulaceae

Campanula pallida

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bhutan2012 188
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3300m September
Bhutan2012 313
Bhutan Haar-Valley, 3300m September
Sikkim2003 381 P537
Sikkim Tista valley 3300m August

Description

Campanula pallida is a widespread Asian bellflower with an extensive GBIF record (over 68,000 occurrences) centred on China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Afghanistan, with numerous further reports across the broader range from Myanmar and Thailand to scattered cultivated and recorded localities elsewhere. It is a plant of open, well-drained ground, frequenting grassy slopes, rocky banks, terrace margins, roadside cuttings and forest clearings in the temperate and subalpine zones, broadly between about 1500 and 3500 m. The plants illustrated from the Haa valley in Bhutan at 3300 m in September and the Tista valley in Sikkim at 3300 m in August reflect its long summer-to-autumn flowering across the eastern Himalaya.

The species is a perennial herb with slender, ascending to decumbent stems bearing scattered hairs and clear latex. The leaves are alternate, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, with a crenate to serrate margin, the lower leaves petiolate and the upper sessile. The flowers are nodding, borne singly or in a loose few-flowered inflorescence; the corolla is broadly campanulate, five-lobed and pale blue to lilac or sometimes whitish, with reflexed appendages between the calyx lobes. The five stamens have dilated filament bases, and the inferior ovary matures into a nodding capsule that dehisces by basal pores to shed numerous small seeds.

Campanula is a large and taxonomically difficult genus, and C. pallida belongs to a complex of variable Himalayan bellflowers in which flower size and indumentum vary geographically. The pendulous, protandrous flowers are pollinated principally by bees, and the pore-dehiscent capsule disperses seed by wind shaking. The species is abundant, ecologically tolerant and frequently associated with semi-disturbed ground, and it is of no conservation concern.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Revision of the Asiatic Campanula (Kolakovsky)

Fabaceae

Campylotropis speciosa 

by G & P Jürgens

(Royle ex Schindl.) Schindl.

Garw 2005 263 ergebnis
India Garwahl Kunol 2500m, September
Garw 2005 262 ergebnis scaled
Garw 2005 263 ergebnis scaled
India Garhwal Sitel 1900m, September

Description

Campylotropis speciosa is a Sino-Himalayan shrub distributed across the warm-temperate and subtropical belts of the southern Himalaya and adjacent China, with verified records from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. The roughly 294 occurrences trace a continuous arc along the outer ranges. In the Garhwal Himalaya it occupies open hill slopes, forest margins and scrub at around 1900-2500 m, as documented by collections from Kunol (2500 m) and Sitel (1900 m) flowering in September. It favours sunny, well-drained rocky ground and is typically a component of secondary scrub and degraded oak forest.

It forms an erect, much-branched shrub to about 2 m, with ridged, finely pubescent young branchlets. The leaves are pinnately trifoliolate; leaflets are elliptic to obovate, the terminal one largest, rounded or emarginate at the apex and mucronate, glabrescent above and appressed-pubescent beneath, the stipules subulate and persistent. The showy flowers are borne in elongate, lax terminal and axillary racemes, each pedicel articulate and bearing a single papilionaceous corolla; the standard is broad and reddish-purple to violet, the keel incurved. The fruit is a small, flattened, indehiscent, one-seeded legume with a reticulate-veined surface.

The genus Campylotropis, allied to Lespedeza within tribe Desmodieae, is distinguished by its articulate pedicels and one-seeded pods. C. speciosa is among the more ornamental Himalayan species, valued for its long racemes. As a leguminous pioneer it aids nitrogen enrichment and slope stabilisation on disturbed ground; though not assessed as threatened, its dependence on open habitats makes it sensitive to forest succession and grazing.

Author: (Royle ex Schindl.) Schindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Iokawa & Ohashi revision of Campylotropis

Brassicaceae

Cardamine elegantula

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 2001 87 ergebnis ergebnis
East-Nepal Gupka Pokhari 2920m, April

Description

Cardamine elegantula is an Eastern Himalayan species ranging from eastern Nepal through Sikkim and the northern West Bengal hills into Bhutan, with GBIF recording 17 occurrences across BT, NP and IN. It is a plant of cool, humid temperate forest, occurring on shaded, moss-covered banks, in damp ravines and along streamsides where the soil remains moist through the growing season. The photographed population was found in East Nepal at Gupka Pokhari near 2920 m, flowering in April, which is characteristic of its early-season anthesis at montane elevations broadly between 2500 and 3500 m.

The species is a slender, glabrous perennial herb arising from a thin rhizome, with erect to ascending, sparingly branched stems. The leaves are pinnately compound: the cauline leaves bear several pairs of ovate to lanceolate, toothed lateral leaflets and a larger terminal leaflet, the whole foliage delicate in texture. Flowers are borne in lax terminal racemes; each has four free sepals and four white to pale pink, clawed petals arranged in the cruciform pattern of the Brassicaceae, with the characteristic tetradynamous androecium of six stamens. The fruit is a slender, linear silique that dehisces elastically along two valves to disperse the small seeds in a single row.

Within Cardamine, a large cosmopolitan genus of bittercresses, C. elegantula belongs to the perennial, rhizomatous Himalayan element distinguished by its graceful habit, pinnate leaves and slender siliques. As a moisture-demanding forest understorey herb it serves as an indicator of intact, undisturbed temperate woodland. It has not been formally assessed for conservation status; its restricted Eastern Himalayan range makes it potentially sensitive to forest clearance and habitat desiccation.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of China (Brassicaceae)

Brassicaceae

Cardamine griffithii

by G & P Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

BhutanPG2011 103
Bhutan Chogcham, 3450m June
BhutanPG2011 685 01 01 scaled
Bhutan Luksor, 2900m July
BhutanPG2011 116 scaled
Bhutan Tsochenchen, 3500m June

Description

A perennial bittercress of the eastern Himalaya and adjacent mountains, recorded from China, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Myanmar, with around 577 GBIF occurrences. It is a plant of cool, wet ground, frequenting stream banks, seepages, marshy meadows, damp forest floors and shaded rocky places in the temperate to subalpine belt, mostly between about 2800 and 3800 m. The featured collections come from several Bhutanese sites in June and July, including Chogcham at 3450 m, Luksor at 2900 m and Tsochenchen at 3500 m, all moist, sheltered montane habitats.

The species grows from a slender rhizome, producing erect or ascending, glabrous to sparsely hairy stems. The leaves are pinnately compound, the lower with several pairs of stalked, ovate to lanceolate, toothed leaflets and a larger terminal leaflet; cauline leaves are similar but reduced upward. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of small white to pale lilac flowers, each with four sepals and four clawed, spreading petals in the typical cruciform pattern, six tetradynamous stamens and a superior bilocular ovary. The fruit is a slender, linear, slightly flattened silique that dehisces elastically from the base, scattering the small seeds in a single row per locule.

Accepted by POWO and GBIF, C. griffithii belongs to a taxonomically intricate genus in which Himalayan species are distinguished by leaf division, petal size and habitat. Like many bittercresses it is closely tied to permanently moist microhabitats and the elastic silique aids local seed dispersal. It is widespread and often locally common in suitable damp ground across its range, and is not considered threatened, though it depends on intact montane wetlands and riparian zones.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Jafri monograph of Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Cardamine macrophylla

by GP Jürgens

Willd.

Sikkim2011 373
Sikkim Lada-La 3800m, June
Sikkim 2006 356 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tamrong 2750m, May

Description

Cardamine macrophylla Willd. is a robust perennial crucifer with a broad distribution across temperate Asia, occurring in China, Russia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Korea and elsewhere. In the Himalaya it is recorded from Sikkim at Lada-La near 3800 m, flowering in June, and from Tamrong in West Bengal at about 2750 m in May, spanning the temperate to subalpine zones. The species favours moist, shaded habitats: streamsides, wet meadows, forest margins, ravines and seepage slopes, generally between 2000 and 4000 m, on rich, humose soils. Its roughly 5068 GBIF records reflect a genuinely widespread and frequently collected species across its extensive range.

The plant arises from a creeping, scaly rhizome and produces erect, stout, leafy stems up to 70 cm or more. The leaves are pinnately compound with several pairs of large, lanceolate to ovate, serrate leaflets, the foliage notably ample for the genus, accounting for the epithet macrophylla. The flowers are borne in dense terminal corymbose racemes and are showy, with four spreading petals of pink, lilac to purplish hue and the usual tetradynamous stamens. The fruit is a long, linear, flattened silique that dehisces elastically to scatter the seeds in a single row.

Cardamine belongs to the tribe Cardamineae, a large and taxonomically complex genus in which polyploidy and hybridisation are widespread; C. macrophylla itself encompasses considerable morphological and cytological variation, with several infraspecific taxa and allied forms recognised across its range. Spreading both by seed and by rhizome, it can form extensive clonal stands in suitable wet ground. Widespread and ecologically tolerant, it is of no conservation concern, and the rhizome and young shoots are used locally as a wild vegetable.

Author: Willd. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Cardamine systematic revisions (Al-Shehbaz)

Brassicaceae

Cardamine pulchella

by G & P Jürgens

(Hook.f. & Thomson) Al-Shehbaz & G.Yang

Sikkim 2006 422 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 2800m, May

Description

Cardamine pulchella is a delicate perennial herb of the Sino-Himalayan high mountains, recorded by GBIF from China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar across about 147 occurrences. It inhabits cool, moist alpine and subalpine sites, growing on damp grassy slopes, beside rills and snowmelt flushes, and in open turf among rocks, generally from around 2800 to over 4500 m. The image from Kishong in West Bengal at about 2800 m, flowering in May, captures it near the lower edge of its range, where the early-season moisture of melting snow supports its slender, soft growth.

The plant arises from a slender creeping rhizome and produces low, often somewhat fleshy stems. The leaves are pinnately divided or compound, with a few rounded to oblong leaflets, the terminal leaflet frequently larger; both basal and cauline leaves are present, and the foliage is thin-textured and glabrous to sparsely hairy. The flowers are borne in a short few-flowered raceme and are relatively large for the genus, with four free sepals and four spreading petals that are white to pale lilac or pinkish-purple, conspicuous against the small stature of the plant. There are six tetradynamous stamens. The fruit is a slender linear silique that opens by two valves springing elastically from the persistent septum to scatter the seeds.

The species was transferred to its current placement by Al-Shehbaz and G. Yang, reflecting modern molecular and morphological reassessment of the alpine Asian Cardamine. It is part of a group of high-elevation crucifers adapted to short growing seasons and cold, wet substrates, completing flowering and fruiting rapidly after snowmelt. Though not assessed as threatened, such specialised alpine herbs are vulnerable to the upward compression of suitable habitat under climate warming, and to disturbance of fragile snowbed and flush communities.

Author: (Hook.f. & Thomson) Al-Shehbaz & G.Yang · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Al-Shehbaz revisions of Asian Brassicaceae, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Brassicaceae

Cardamine yunnanensis

by G & P Jürgens

Franch.

Sikkim 2006 346 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Tolung 2500m, May

Description

Cardamine yunnanensis is a temperate montane bittercress distributed through China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan, its 298 georeferenced occurrences indicating a fairly widespread Sino-Himalayan presence. It is a herb of cool, moist, shaded habitats, occupying forest floors, stream sides, damp banks and seepage areas within the temperate zone. The collection from Tolung in West Bengal, India, at 2500 m in May reflects its spring growth and flowering in moist broadleaved forest, when soils are kept reliably damp by snowmelt and early-season precipitation.

The plant is a slender annual or perennial herb with erect or ascending, often slightly fleshy stems arising from a thin rootstock. The leaves are usually pinnately compound or lobed, with a larger terminal leaflet and smaller lateral segments, the margins entire to toothed. The flowers are arranged in terminal racemes and follow the cruciferous plan, with four sepals, four white to pale lilac petals in a cross, and the tetradynamous androecium of six stamens. The diagnostic fruit is a slender, linear, laterally compressed silique that dehisces explosively, the valves coiling elastically to fling the small seeds away from the parent plant.

Cardamine is a large, cosmopolitan genus of the Brassicaceae characterised by its narrow siliques and frequently divided leaves, with a notable concentration of species in the Sino-Himalayan mountains. Many species are calcifuge moisture-lovers and several are used as wild greens. With a broad distribution spanning several countries and tolerance of disturbed damp ground, C. yunnanensis is secure and not considered threatened.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Cardamine systematic and phylogenetic studies (Brassicaceae), Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton)