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Summer

Primulaceae

Androsace muscoidea

by G & P Jürgens

Duby

Nepal 99 591 ergebnis
West-Nepal Garpung-Khola 3300m, July
Nepal 99 605 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara Phedi 3900m, July

Description

Androsace muscoidea is a cushion-forming rock-jasmine widely distributed along the Himalaya and into the adjoining mountains of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal and China, with around 120 georeferenced records reflecting its frequency across the high ranges. It is a true alpine, growing on stony slopes, gravelly flats, moraines and in rock crevices of the subalpine and alpine zones, often where snow lies late. The photographed material from West Nepal, gathered at Garpung-Khola around 3300 m and at Kagmara Phedi near 3900 m in July, illustrates the broad altitudinal band over which the species flowers during the brief high-mountain summer.

The plant forms dense, moss-like cushions or low mats, the epithet muscoidea aptly evoking its moss-like habit. Numerous tightly packed rosettes are composed of small, narrowly oblong to spathulate, imbricate leaves that are often densely hairy and somewhat fleshy, giving the cushion a hoary, grey-green appearance. The flowers are solitary or borne few together on very short, hairy scapes scarcely exceeding the foliage; each has a campanulate calyx and a salver-shaped corolla of five spreading lobes, white to pink with a contrasting yellow to reddish eye at the throat. The fruit is a small, few-seeded capsule dehiscing by valves.

Androsace is a large genus of mostly arctic and alpine Primulaceae, and the compact, cushion species such as A. muscoidea represent classic adaptations to cold, wind-exposed, drought-prone high-altitude environments, the densely packed rosettes conserving heat and moisture. Variable across its range, the species has given rise to several named forms and varieties. It is not regarded as threatened given its wide distribution, though localised alpine populations are sensitive to grazing, trampling and the warming of Himalayan high-mountain habitats.

Author: Duby · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China (Primulaceae), Smith & Lowe: The Genus Androsace (monograph)

Primulaceae

Androsace rhizomatosa

by GP Jürgens

Hand.-Mazz.

BhutanPG2011 362
Bhutan Jule-Tso, 4400m June

Description

Androsace rhizomatosa is a high-alpine cushion plant of the eastern Himalaya, known in GBIF from a single Bhutanese record, an emphatic indication of its rarity and very restricted distribution. It is a plant of exposed alpine screes, rocky ridges, gravelly flushes and turf at the upper limits of vegetation. The collection at Jule-Tso in Bhutan at about 4400 m in June is consistent with the cold, windswept, well-drained high-alpine habitat the species occupies, flowering in early summer as the snow retreats from these stony slopes well above the treeline.

The species is a small perennial herb of the genus that, as its epithet rhizomatosa indicates, spreads by slender rhizomes or stolons to form loose mats or low cushions of leaf rosettes rather than tight hemispherical domes. The leaves are small, narrow and crowded into basal rosettes, often grey-green and clothed with fine hairs that reduce desiccation and ultraviolet damage. The flowers are borne singly or in small few-flowered umbels on short scapes; each has a salver-shaped corolla with five spreading lobes, white to pale pink with a contrasting yellow or pinkish eye at the constricted throat, and the stamens inserted within the corolla tube. The fruit is a small few-seeded capsule.

Androsace (Primulaceae) is a large Holarctic genus richly developed in the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, where rosette- and cushion-forming species are repeatedly adapted to cold, arid, high-irradiance alpine conditions; A. rhizomatosa belongs to the rhizomatous, mat-forming element rather than the dense-cushion section. Its compact growth conserves heat and moisture, and pollination is by alpine insects. Given that it is documented from essentially a single locality and confined to a fragile high-alpine niche, the species is of considerable conservation concern and merits dedicated field survey and assessment.

Author: Hand.-Mazz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Smith and Lowe Androsaces, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Primulaceae

Androsace rotundifolia

by G & P Jürgens

Hardw.

Nepal 99 26 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chere 2850m June
Nepal 99 27 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chere 2850m June

Description

A perennial rock-jasmine distributed along the Himalaya and into south-western China, with verified records from Pakistan, India, Nepal, China and Afghanistan among nearly 600 GBIF occurrences (several extra-range entries reflect cultivation or misregistration). It favours shaded, humus-rich banks, mossy boulders, forest margins and damp cliff faces in the temperate and subalpine zones, generally between about 2000 and 3500 m. The illustrated plant was recorded in June at Chere in western Nepal at around 2850 m, a moist, partly shaded montane setting characteristic of the species.

Unlike the tight cushion androsaces, A. rotundifolia is a softly hairy, loosely tufted herb with a slender creeping or ascending rootstock. The leaves form a basal rosette and are distinctive in the genus: long-petiolate with a rounded to reniform, palmately lobed and crenate-toothed blade, sparsely pilose on both surfaces. From the rosette arises a slender, hairy scape bearing an umbel of several flowers, each subtended by small bracts. The corolla is salverform with a short tube and five spreading pink to rose lobes constricted at a small throat eye; five stamens are included, and the superior ovary ripens into a small globose, few-seeded capsule dehiscing by valves.

The broad, rounded, lobed leaves separate this species from most relatives and align it with a small group of woodland-dwelling rock-jasmines. As an accepted species (per GBIF and POWO) it is taxonomically stable. Ecologically it is an indicator of moist, sheltered montane habitats and contributes to early-summer flowering at forest edges. Widespread and locally frequent across its Himalayan range, it is of no particular conservation concern, though dependent on the persistence of undisturbed shaded substrates.

Author: Hardw. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Smith and Lowe monograph of Androsace

Primulaceae

Androsace sarmentosa subsp. primuloides

by G & P Jürgens

(Duby) Govaerts

Nepal 99 77 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chanta 2700m, June
Nepal 99 78 ergebnis
West-Nepal Chanta 2700m, June
Garw 2005 42 ergebnis ergebnis
India Garhwal Valley of flowers 3250m, September

Description

Androsace sarmentosa subsp. primuloides is a mat-forming rock-jasmine of the western and central Himalaya, recorded from India, China, Nepal and Pakistan, with about 122 occurrences in GBIF. It grows on open rocky slopes, ledges, stony pastures and the margins of alpine meadows, mainly in the subalpine and lower alpine zones between roughly 2500 and 4000 m, favouring well-drained, sunny sites. The photographs from Chanta in West Nepal at about 2700 m in June and from the Valley of Flowers in Garhwal at about 3250 m in September capture the plant across its altitudinal range from early summer flowering to late-season fruiting in the high meadows.

The plant forms loose mats by means of slender, leafy stolons or runners (hence sarmentosa) that root at the nodes to produce new rosettes. Each rosette consists of oblong to spathulate leaves clothed, especially when young, in silky white or silvery hairs that give the cushions a downy appearance. From the rosettes arise short, hairy scapes bearing an umbel of several flowers subtended by a whorl of bracts; the flowers have a five-lobed, salver-shaped corolla, rose-pink with a yellow or orange eye and a constricted throat, recalling a small primrose, as the epithet primuloides suggests. The fruit is a small capsule with few seeds.

Androsace belongs to the Primulaceae and is closely allied to Primula, distinguished by its smaller flowers with a constricted corolla throat; the stoloniferous, mat-building habit of this taxon contrasts with the tight cushions of many high-alpine relatives. Long popular in alpine and rock gardening for its free-flowering pink umbels, it propagates readily from its rooting runners. Widely distributed and locally abundant, the subspecies is not of conservation concern.

Author: (Duby) Govaerts · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Smith and Lowe's monograph of Androsace, Richards' Primula and its allies

Primulaceae

Androsace strigillosa

by GP Jürgens

Franch.

Sikkim2011 59
Sikkim Vista-valley 3800m, June

Description

Androsace strigillosa is a Himalayan rock-jasmine recorded in GBIF from Nepal, China, India and Bhutan across 294 occurrences. It is a plant of open subalpine and alpine slopes, meadows, forest clearings and rocky banks, generally between 3000 and 4200 m. The photographed individual was found in Sikkim's Vista valley at about 3800 m in June, when the early summer brings flowering on moist, well-drained turf shortly after snow-melt. Within the genus it is one of the taller, more robust species, favouring herb-rich grassland rather than extreme scree.

It is a rosette-forming perennial with a basal cluster of oblong-lanceolate to spathulate leaves narrowed to a winged base, the lamina toothed toward the apex and clothed, as the epithet implies, in a strigillose (short, stiff, appressed-bristly) indumentum. From the rosette arises a stout, hairy scape 10-30 cm tall terminating in an umbel of numerous flowers subtended by an involucre of bracts. Each flower has a campanulate, hairy calyx and a salverform pink to rose-purple corolla with a constricted, often yellow-eyed throat and five spreading lobes. The fruit is a small, few- to several-seeded globose capsule dehiscing by valves.

Androsace (Primulaceae) is a large genus of the northern temperate and arctic-alpine zones, well represented in the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, where cushion and rosette forms dominate. As a comparatively large-leaved, scapose species, A. strigillosa illustrates the meadow-dwelling end of the genus's ecological range. Pollination is by small insects attracted to the contrasting eye-ring, and seeds are gravity- and wind-dispersed. It is locally common and of no conservation concern.

Author: Franch. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Smith and Lowe Monograph of Androsace

Primulaceae

Androsace tapete 

by G & P Jürgens

Maxim.

Nepal 99 622 2 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 4550m, July

Description

Androsace tapete Maxim. is a cushion-forming rock-jasmine of the high Himalaya and Tibetan plateau, documented by some 579 records from China, Nepal, India and Bhutan. It is a true subnival specialist, growing on exposed gravelly and rocky slopes, screes, moraines and stony alpine flats, typically between about 4000 and 5500 m. The plant photographed at the Kagmara-La in West Nepal at 4550 m in July epitomises its habitat: a wind-blasted, intensely irradiated, frost-prone pass where it forms tight hemispherical cushions hugging the substrate.

The species is a compact, perennial, evergreen cushion plant built from densely packed columnar shoots, each terminating in a small rosette of imbricate, oblong-spathulate leaves clothed in long white hairs that trap warmth and reduce desiccation. Dead leaves are retained internally, packing the cushion into a firm dome (the epithet "tapete" meaning carpet). The flowers are solitary, sessile or nearly so among the rosette leaves, with a small gamopetalous corolla, the five lobes white to pink with a yellow or reddish eye, borne over a short tube. The fruit is a small few-seeded capsule largely enclosed within the persistent calyx.

Androsace tapete belongs to section Aretia (the aretioid cushion androsaces), a group whose extreme cushion architecture represents convergent adaptation to the cold, dry, high-radiation conditions of the world's highest vegetated terrain. The cushion modifies its own microclimate, ameliorating temperature and moisture and often facilitating other alpine species. Restricted to remote high-altitude habitats and slow-growing, such cushion plants are sensitive to climate warming and trampling, although A. tapete remains widespread and is not formally assessed.

Author: Maxim. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, monograph of Androsace (sect. Aretia), Smith & Lowe's cushion Androsace studies

Primulaceae

Androsace umbellata 

by G & P Jürgens

(Lour.) Merr.

Garh 07 23 ergebnis
India Garhwal Ransi at Mandakini 1850m, June

Description

Androsace umbellata is a widespread East and South Asian annual ranging from the Himalaya across China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia to the Russian Far East; GBIF documents over 4000 occurrences, reflecting its abundance and broad ecological tolerance. It is a plant of open, disturbed and grassy ground, occurring on banks, terraces, field margins, roadsides, lawns and forest clearings from the foothills into the lower temperate zone. The image from Ransi by the Mandakini in Garhwal (India) at about 1850 m in June shows it in a typical mid-montane setting, where it forms scattered rosettes on moist, sunny slopes early in the growing season.

It is a small, soft, hairy annual herb forming a basal rosette of leaves close to the ground. The leaves are broadly ovate to orbicular or suborbicular, shallowly toothed to crenate at the margin, narrowed to a winged petiole and clothed in articulated multicellular hairs. From the rosette arise several slender, leafless scapes bearing terminal umbels of few to several small flowers, each subtended by an involucre of small bracts. The corolla is white, occasionally pinkish, with a short tube, yellow eye and five spreading lobes; the calyx is deeply lobed and accrescent. The fruit is a globose, five-valved capsule containing numerous small, angular brown seeds.

The species belongs to the annual, rosette-forming section of Androsace, contrasting with the perennial cushion species of the high alpine zone. Its weedy, self-compatible annual strategy and prolific seed production underlie its remarkable distribution and frequency in anthropogenic habitats. It is of no conservation concern, being among the commonest lowland and montane androsaces, and is sometimes used in traditional medicine across its East Asian range.

Author: (Lour.) Merr. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Primulaceae), Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton), Smith & Lowe monograph of Androsace

Ranunculaceae

Anemonastrum demissum

by GP Jürgens

(Hook.f. & Thomson) Holub

Bh09 114 G203
Bhutan Chele-La, 3500m June
Bh09 159 G282
Bhutan Chele-La, 4000m June
Nepal 95 173 P282 ergebnis
Nepal Rupien La 3850m October
Bhutan2012 273
Bhutan Dochu-La 3500m, September

Description

An alpine anemone of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau, recorded from China, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Pakistan, with around 1600 GBIF occurrences. It is a plant of open alpine meadows, grassy slopes, rocky pastures and scrub margins, generally between about 3000 and 4500 m. The featured collections come from several high passes, including Bhutan's Chele-La at 3500 to 4000 m in June, the Dochu-La at 3500 m in September, and Nepal's Rupien La at 3850 m in October, illustrating a long flowering and fruiting season across windswept high-elevation habitats.

The species is a tufted perennial arising from a stout, often woody rootstock crowned with fibrous leaf remnants. The basal leaves are long-petiolate and palmately three- to five-divided, the segments further lobed and toothed and clothed, like the petioles, in spreading hairs. The scape bears a whorl of stalked, leaf-like involucral bracts beneath the inflorescence, which carries one to several flowers. Each flower lacks true petals; the showy perianth consists of five or more white, sometimes bluish- or pinkish-tinged tepals surrounding numerous stamens and a head of many free, hairy carpels. The fruit is an aggregate of compressed, beaked achenes adapted to wind and animal dispersal.

Formerly placed in Anemone, the species is now referred to the segregate genus Anemonastrum, accepted by POWO and GBIF, reflecting molecular and morphological re-circumscription of the windflowers; the basionym honours Hooker and Thomson. Ecologically it is a conspicuous element of summer-flowering alpine turf, offering pollen and nectar to high-altitude insects. Widespread and often locally abundant throughout the Himalaya, it is not of conservation concern, though its grassland habitats are subject to grazing and climatic shifts.

Author: (Hook.f. & Thomson) Holub · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Ziman et al. revision of Anemonastrum

Ranunculaceae

Anemonastrum obtusilobum

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Mosyakin

Bhutan2014 516
Bhutan Yatong-La 3200m, May
Nepal 99 82 ergebnis
Bhutan Bhulbhule 3150m, June

Description

Anemonastrum obtusilobum, long known as Anemone obtusiloba, is a widespread Himalayan and Central Asian alpine herb recorded from China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with a substantial 825 occurrences in GBIF. It is a plant of open alpine and subalpine meadows, grassy slopes, forest clearings and stony turf, typically between 2500 and 4500 m. The localities cited, Yatong-La at 3200 m in May and Bhulbhule at 3150 m in June in Bhutan, are characteristic of the moist, herb-rich montane grassland where it carpets slopes in spring and early summer.

The species is a tufted perennial herb from a stout, often branched rootstock clothed with the fibrous remains of old leaf bases. The basal leaves are long-petiolate and palmately three-lobed, the lobes broad and obtusely toothed (hence obtusilobum), softly hairy and somewhat fleshy. The flowering scape bears an involucre of leaf-like bracts and one to several flowers; each flower lacks petals but has five to eight petaloid sepals that are white, cream, yellow or violet-blue, surrounding numerous yellow stamens and a cluster of free carpels. The fruit is a head of compressed, glabrous achenes each tipped with a short style.

The segregate genus Anemonastrum was resurrected on molecular grounds from the broadly circumscribed Anemone, grouping the herbaceous, palmately lobed-leaved species with basal involucres; A. obtusilobum is a polymorphic species varying greatly in flower colour and stature across its range, prompting recognition of several varieties. Its insect-pollinated flowers and dry achenes, dispersed by wind and animals, suit the open alpine environment. The species is common and of least conservation concern, though it remains a useful indicator of intact Himalayan alpine meadow communities.

Author: (D.Don) Mosyakin · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Ranunculaceae

Anemonastrum polyanthes

by GP Jürgens

(D.Don) Holub

Bh09 32 G59
Bhutan above Paro 3200m, June
Garh 07 464 ergebnis
India Garhwal Khiar Kutti 3900m, June

Description

Anemonastrum polyanthes (formerly Anemone polyanthes) is a robust alpine herb distributed across the Himalaya and into western China, with GBIF holding around 362 occurrences from India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. It grows in subalpine and alpine meadows, open slopes, forest clearings and grazed pastures, typically between 3000 and 4300 m, flowering with the onset of the summer monsoon. The cited collections from above Paro in Bhutan at 3200 m and from Khiar Kutti in Garhwal, India, at 3900 m, both in June, capture its broad altitudinal spread across damp, herb-rich high-meadow turf.

It is a perennial arising from a stout rootstock, with all principal leaves basal, long-petiolate and palmately three- to five-partite, the segments deeply cut and toothed, hairy on both surfaces. The flowering stem bears a whorl of leaf-like, sessile involucral bracts subtending an umbel-like cyme of several flowers, as the epithet polyanthes implies. Each flower lacks petals; the five to eight petaloid sepals are white, sometimes flushed pinkish or bluish outside, surrounding numerous yellow stamens and a domed cluster of carpels. The fruits are flattened, glabrous, ovate achenes with a short hooked beak, aggregated into a rounded head.

The segregate genus Anemonastrum, raised from Anemone on molecular and morphological grounds, accommodates this group of umbellate-flowered, multi-flowered montane species. Like other Ranunculaceae it contains acrid protoanemonin, deterring grazing livestock so that it often persists conspicuously in over-grazed alpine pasture. Widespread and frequently common throughout the Himalayan arc, it is of Least Concern and serves as a prominent component of summer-flowering high-altitude meadow communities.

Author: (D.Don) Holub · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Hand-Mazzetti and Tamura treatments of Anemone