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Summer

Corallodiscinae

Corallodiscus lanuginosus

by GP Jürgens

(Wall. ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt

Nepal 97 369 P725
Nepal Arun-Valley 1750m May
Nepal 99 927 ergebnis
West-Nepal Roha 2750m, July

Description

Corallodiscus lanuginosus (Wall. ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt is a rosette-forming, rupicolous perennial of the Gesneriaceae, distributed across the Himalaya and southwest China. GBIF data (over 2,000 occurrences) record it from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Thailand, indicating a broad Sino-Himalayan range. It was photographed in Nepal in the Arun Valley (1,750 m, May) and at Roha in west Nepal (2,750 m, July), reflecting its occurrence on shaded, mossy cliff faces, rock crevices, and boulders in montane forest, generally between about 1,500 and 3,500 m where humidity is high.

The plant forms a compact basal rosette of leaves pressed against the rock surface. The leaves are obovate to elliptic, with a crenate margin, the upper surface dark green and rugose, the lower surface densely clothed in woolly, rusty to whitish hairs (hence "lanuginosus"). Slender, leafless scapes bear cymose clusters of flowers; the corolla is tubular-campanulate and bluish-violet to purple with a paler throat, with the slightly oblique limb and reduced fertile stamens typical of the genus. The fruit is a slender capsule.

Corallodiscus belongs to the Old World Gesneriaceae (subfamily Didymocarpoideae) and is closely allied to the lithophytic Himalayan radiation that includes Didymocarpus and allies; the input subtribe name reflects this placement. Many populations exhibit poikilohydric, resurrection-like desiccation tolerance, surviving dry periods on exposed rock and reviving with the monsoon. Widespread and locally common on cliffs, the species is not considered threatened.

Author: (Wall. ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Burtt: Studies in the Gesneriaceae of the Old World

Cornaceae

Cornus capitata

by G & P Jürgens

Wall.

BhutanPG2011 45 1
Bhutan Wangdi 2500m June
Bh09 284 P467
Bhutan Paro 2300m June

Description

Cornus capitata Wall. is an evergreen dogwood of the Cornaceae native to the Himalaya and SW China, recorded from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China, and now widely cultivated and naturalised in temperate regions worldwide (Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), accounting for its very large tally of over 4,200 georeferenced records. In its native range it grows in montane evergreen and mixed broad-leaved forest, forest margins, ravines and open hillsides, generally between about 1,000 and 3,200 m. The photographed trees from Wangdi at about 2,500 m and Paro at about 2,300 m in Bhutan, flowering in June, are typical of its mid-montane habitat in the eastern Himalaya.

It is a small to medium evergreen tree or large shrub with leathery, opposite, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate leaves that are dark green above and pale or glaucous beneath, with arcuate lateral veins. The small four-merous flowers are densely aggregated into a globose head subtended by four (to six) large, showy, creamy-white to pale-yellow petaloid bracts that function as the display structure. After flowering the entire head develops into a fleshy, strawberry-like compound fruit, a syncarp of fused drupes, ripening crimson-red and edible.

Cornus capitata belongs to the bracteate, head-flowered group of dogwoods (subgenus Syncarpea / Dendrobenthamia), in which numerous flowers and their swollen receptacles coalesce into a single fleshy aggregate fruit. The conspicuous bracts attract pollinators, while the sweet syncarp is dispersed by birds and mammals. Widely grown as an ornamental for its bracts and fruit, the species is common and widespread and of no conservation concern, though it has become locally invasive in parts of its introduced range.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 14, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Xiang et al.: Phylogeny and classification of Cornus (2006)

Apiaceae

Cortia depressa

by G & P Jürgens

(D.Don) C.Norman

Nepal 99 273 ergebnis
West-Nepal Loccu 3800m, June

Description

Cortia depressa is a cushion-forming alpine umbellifer distributed from Nepal through Sikkim, Bhutan, and northeast India into upper Myanmar and southwestern China (Yunnan, Xizang). GBIF records 284 occurrences, indicating a moderately well-collected species. It is characteristic of high-altitude open habitats including alpine meadows, rocky screes, dry turf, and exposed ridgetops at elevations of 3,200–4,800 m. The species is well adapted to the extreme conditions of the alpine zone, where it tolerates intense solar radiation, frost, and wind exposure by maintaining an extremely compact growth form pressed close to the substrate.
Cortia depressa is a dwarf, depressed-caespitose, perennial herb arising from a stout, woody taproot. The entire plant is typically only 2–5 cm tall, forming dense rosettes or low mats. Leaves are pinnately or bipinnately dissected into small, crowded, linear segments, 1–3 cm long, with sheathing petiolar bases that are often purple-tinged and somewhat scarious. The inflorescence is a simple or compound umbel, sessile or on very short peduncles barely exceeding the foliage. Umbellules are compact, with minute, white to pinkish flowers, 1–2 mm across, each with five petals and five stamens. The involucral and involucellar bracts are conspicuous relative to the diminutive plant. The fruit is a compressed, ellipsoid cremocarp, 3–5 mm long, with prominent dorsal ridges and well-developed vittae.
The photographed specimen from Loccu in western Nepal at 3,800 m in June documents an early-monsoon flowering occurrence, consistent with the brief alpine growing season. Cortia is a small genus of five to eight species endemic to the Sino-Himalayan region, and C. depressa is the most widespread member. It is distinguished from the related C. lindleyi by its more strongly depressed habit and sessile to subsessile umbels. The species exemplifies morphological adaptations to alpine environments — dwarfism, dense pubescence, and compact rosette architecture — that minimize heat and water loss. It serves as an indicator species for well-preserved alpine turf communities across the Himalayas.

Author: (D.Don) C.Norman · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 14, Flora of Nepal Checklist, Pimenov & Leonov: The Genera of Umbelliferae (1993)

Apiaceae

Cortiella hookeri

by GP Jürgens

(C.B.Clarke) C.Norman

Sikkim2003 243 P334
Sikkim Dzongri 4100m, August

Description

Cortiella hookeri is a cushion-forming umbellifer of the high Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, distributed through Nepal, China, India and Bhutan; GBIF records 115 occurrences, concentrated in the alpine zone of this region. It grows on open stony slopes, gravelly alpine turf, screes and exposed ridges, typically above 4000 m where few flowering plants persist. The illustrated material was gathered in Sikkim at Dzongri at about 4100 m in August, a classic high-alpine station where the species flowers late in the short growing season among rock and short turf swept by monsoon cloud.

The plant is a low, compact perennial herb forming a flattened rosette or cushion from a stout, often woody taproot crowned by the fibrous remains of old leaf bases. Leaves are crowded, petiolate and pinnately to ternately dissected into small, firm, often crowded segments adapted to cold and wind. The inflorescence is a condensed, sessile or short-stalked compound umbel held close to the rosette, subtended by conspicuous bracts and bracteoles; the small flowers are white to pinkish, five-merous, with inflexed petals and an inferior ovary. The fruit is a dorsally somewhat compressed schizocarp splitting into two ribbed mericarps, the ribs and vittae providing key diagnostic characters.

Cortiella is a small genus of the Sino-Himalayan alpine flora, segregated within the carrot family on fruit anatomy and habit, with C. hookeri commemorating J. D. Hooker. POWO and GBIF accept the name. Its cushion habit and high-elevation niche exemplify the convergent growth forms that allow Apiaceae to colonise the harshest Tibetan alpine ground.

Author: (C.B.Clarke) C.Norman · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Umbelliferae of the Sino-Himalaya (Apiaceae monograph)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis calliantha

by GP Jürgens

D.G. Long.

BhutanPG2011 568 01
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4600m July

Description

Corydalis calliantha is a high-alpine herb of the Eastern Himalaya, narrowly endemic to Bhutan, where it is the only territory from which it is documented (GBIF records derive exclusively from BT, with very few verified occurrences). It occupies the upper alpine and subnival belt, growing among moist screes, moraine debris and damp turf at the margins of glacial tarns. The collection illustrated here, gathered along the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail near Dem-Tso at about 4600 m in July, typifies its preference for cool, well-drained but seasonally irrigated substrates exposed only briefly during the short alpine summer.

It is a low, tufted, glabrous and somewhat glaucous perennial arising from a slender fleshy rootstock. The leaves are mostly basal, petiolate and several times finely divided into small obovate to oblong segments, giving a delicate, almost ferny appearance. Flowers are borne in short, few-flowered racemes; each zygomorphic flower has four petals, the outer upper petal produced backward into a slender, gently curved nectar spur, and is typically clear sky-blue to violet-blue, the colour to which the epithet calliantha ("beautiful-flowered") alludes. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule containing several small, shining black seeds, each often bearing a small elaiosome.

Within the large and taxonomically intricate genus Corydalis, this species belongs to the blue-flowered alpine assemblage centred on the Sino-Himalayan region, a group much studied by D.G. Long and collaborators in the Flora of Bhutan. Its restricted range and specialised subnival habitat make it of biogeographic interest and potentially vulnerable to climatic shifts affecting high-altitude snowmelt, although its remote terrain affords protection from direct disturbance.

Author: D.G. Long. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Liden & Zetterlund monograph of Corydalis

Papaveraceae

Corydalis cashmeriana

by G & P Jürgens

Royle

Nepal 99 132 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3800m, June
Garh 07 117 ergebnis
India Garhwal Meggu Kichatti 3400m, June

Description

Corydalis cashmeriana is a celebrated blue-flowered alpine herb of the western and central Himalaya. GBIF records place it in Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, with around 130 occurrences reflecting its distribution through the high mountains from Kashmir eastward. It grows on moist alpine meadows, turfy slopes, the margins of melting snowbeds and damp rocky ground, generally between roughly 3000 and 4500 m, where cool, well-watered summer conditions prevail. The photographed plants from south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at 3800 m and from Meggu Kichatti in Garhwal, India, at 3400 m, both flowering in June, illustrate its early-summer blooming in the subalpine to alpine belt as the snow retreats.

It is a low, tufted perennial herb arising from small, clustered tubers, producing a few erect, leafy stems. The leaves are mostly basal and long-petiolate, the blades much-divided and glaucous, the ultimate segments small and obovate. The inflorescence is a short terminal raceme of few flowers; each flower is strongly zygomorphic, with four petals of which the outer upper one is prolonged backwards into a slender, gently curved spur, the whole of an intense sky-blue to deep azure. The fruit is a narrow, elongate capsule dehiscing to release shining black seeds bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis is a very large genus of the Fumarioideae, here treated within the Papaveraceae, with its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalayan region. The intensely blue-flowered alpine species, of which C. cashmeriana is the type of much horticultural interest, are notoriously challenging in cultivation. The seed elaiosome promotes dispersal by ants, while the spurred flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bumblebees probing for nectar held in the spur.

Author: Royle · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China (Papaveraceae, Fumarioideae), The Genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis ecristata

by GP Jürgens

(Prain) D.G. Long

Sikkim2011 347
Sikkim Lada-La 4000m, June
BhutanPG2011 653
Bhutan Thitha-Tso, 4300m June
BhutanPG2011 652 1
Bhutan Thitha-Tso, 4300m June

Description

Corydalis ecristata is a small alpine herb of the higher Himalaya, distributed through Nepal, India, China and Bhutan (NP, IN, CN, BT), with about 58 recorded occurrences. It grows on open stony slopes, in screes, alpine turf, moraine and damp gravelly ground near snowmelt, characteristically in the high alpine to subnival zone, broadly between about 3800 and 4800 m. The gatherings cited come from Lada-La in Sikkim at 4000 m and from Thitha-Tso in Bhutan at 4300 m, both flowering in June, an elevation and early-summer season typical of the species, which colonises freshly exposed, well-drained debris in the brief window following the retreat of snow.

The plant is a small, glabrous, somewhat glaucous perennial herb arising from a slender tuber or rootstock. The leaves are mostly basal and finely divided, ternately to pinnately dissected into narrow ultimate segments, with long petioles. The flowers are few, borne in a short terminal raceme; each is strongly zygomorphic with four petals in two whorls, the outer upper petal prolonged backward into a nectar spur, the inner petals cohering over the stigma. As the epithet 'ecristata' indicates, the petals are crestless (lacking the dorsal wing or crest found in many congeners), the corolla blue to sky-blue, sometimes with darker markings. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent, few-seeded capsule.

Corydalis (subfamily Fumarioideae of the Papaveraceae, sometimes treated in Fumariaceae) attains exceptional diversity in the Sino-Himalayan alpine flora, where blue-flowered, tuberous species like C. ecristata are a conspicuous element of the high screes. The spurred, bilaterally symmetric flowers are pollinated chiefly by bumblebees seeking the nectar held in the spur. As a specialist of high-altitude scree and moraine with a fairly restricted range, it is dependent on stable alpine conditions, though it is not at present regarded as threatened.

Author: (Prain) D.G. Long · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, The Genus Corydalis (Liden & Zetterlund monograph)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis elegans 

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson

Nepal 99 483 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3700m, June

Description

Corydalis elegans is a slender alpine herb of the western Himalaya, known principally from India and Nepal, where its 22 documented occurrences reflect a restricted and rather local distribution. It is a plant of high-elevation habitats, growing on moist open slopes, among rocks, in damp shrubberies and along the margins of forest in the subalpine and alpine zones, where it flowers in the early summer after snowmelt. In west Nepal it ascends to considerable altitude, as shown by the collection along the Churta Khola at about 3700 m in June, a site typical of its cool, well-watered montane preference.

The plant is a glabrous, somewhat glaucous annual or short-lived herb with slender erect to ascending stems arising from a fine root system. The leaves are alternate, two- to three-pinnately dissected into small, narrow, oblong to obovate ultimate segments, giving a delicate, finely cut appearance. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme of few-to-several zygomorphic flowers; each flower is yellow, the outer of the four petals prolonged backward into a slender curved spur, the inner petals connivent over the stamens, which are united into two bundles of three. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule containing several small black seeds, typically bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis, treated within Papaveraceae (sometimes segregated as Fumariaceae), is one of the largest genera of the Himalaya, with a great proliferation of species across the alpine belt. The spurred, nectariferous flowers are adapted to pollination by long-tongued bees, while the elaiosome-bearing seeds are dispersed by ants. As a narrowly distributed western Himalayan endemic known from few collections, C. elegans warrants attention as a potentially range-restricted species, its conservation tied to the stability of high-altitude habitats sensitive to grazing and climatic change.

Author: Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China Vol. 7, Lidén & Zetterlund monograph Corydalis (A Gardener's Guide)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis filicina

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Nepal 99 889 ergebnis
Nepal Murwa 3360m, July

Description

Corydalis filicina is a Sino-Himalayan herb distributed across the central and eastern Himalaya, with verified occurrences in Nepal, Bhutan and south-western China (Xizang and adjacent provinces). Though comparatively few collections are catalogued (some 14 georeferenced occurrences), the species occupies a well-defined montane to subalpine belt. It favours cool, humid microhabitats — shaded ravines, mossy banks beneath shrubberies, conifer and Rhododendron forest margins, and damp rock crevices — typically between about 3,000 and 4,300 m. The plant photographed at Murwa, Nepal, at 3,360 m in July, illustrates its flowering during the monsoon season, when meltwater and rainfall sustain the moist soils it requires.

It is a slender, glabrous, often glaucous annual or short-lived perennial arising from a fibrous root system. The stems are erect to ascending, branched and rather weak. The leaves are notably finely dissected, two- to three-pinnate or pinnatisect into narrow, fern-like ultimate segments, a feature reflected in the epithet "filicina" (fern-like). The flowers are borne in lax terminal or leaf-opposed racemes; each zygomorphic flower is yellow, with the outer pair of the four petals forming a spur at the base and a galeate upper lip, in the characteristic Corydalis structure. The fruit is a slender dehiscent capsule containing small shining black seeds, generally bearing an elaiosome.

Corydalis (subfamily Fumarioideae) is among the largest Himalayan genera, with intense diversification on the Tibetan Plateau and its margins. The fern-leaved species form a taxonomically intricate group requiring careful comparison of leaf division, raceme arrangement and capsule shape. No targeted conservation assessment exists; like many narrow-ranging Himalayan herbs it is potentially vulnerable to habitat disturbance and climate-driven upward shifts of subalpine vegetation.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 7, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Lidén & Zetterlund: Corydalis – A Gardener's Guide (1997)

Papaveraceae

Corydalis flaccida

by GP Jürgens

Hook.f. & Thomson

BhutanPG2011 814 01 01
Bhutan Chele-La, 3700m July
BhutanPG2011 813
Bhutan Chele-La, 3700m July

Description

Corydalis flaccida is a Himalayan herb distributed through China, Nepal, India and Bhutan, with GBIF documenting 138 occurrences across this Sino-Himalayan arc. It grows in cool, moist montane to sub-alpine habitats, including forest margins, shrubberies, shaded banks, rocky slopes and stream-sides, broadly between 2700 and 4000 m. The photographed plant from the Chele-La pass in western Bhutan at about 3700 m, flowering in July, illustrates its monsoon-season blooming in humid high-pass environments where it grows among rocks and moist alpine scrub.

The species is an erect, somewhat lax, glabrous annual or short-lived perennial herb with brittle, often somewhat flaccid stems, as the epithet suggests. The leaves are alternate and two- to three-pinnately divided into small ovate to oblong segments, frequently glaucous beneath. Flowers are borne in elongating racemes subtended by leafy or dissected bracts; each zygomorphic flower has four petals in two whorls, the upper petal prolonged backward into a slender spur. The corolla is typically blue to purplish-blue, sometimes with darker tips, and the inner petals are apically connate over the stigma. The fruit is a slender, linear, dehiscent capsule containing several shiny black seeds, each usually bearing an oily elaiosome.

Described by Hooker and Thomson, the species belongs to the large, taxonomically complex genus Corydalis (Fumarioideae), notable in the Himalaya for its diversity of blue-flowered species. The elaiosome-bearing seeds promote myrmecochorous (ant-mediated) dispersal, while the spurred flowers are adapted for pollination by long-tongued bees. Like many Himalayan Corydalis it contains isoquinoline alkaloids of pharmacological interest. With a broad regional distribution it is not considered threatened, though its specialised high-elevation habitats are sensitive to land-use and climatic change.

Author: Hook.f. & Thomson · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Revision of the genus Corydalis (Lidén & Zetterlund)