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Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis mollis

by GP Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth

BhutanPG2011 386
Bhutan Dur-Tso, 3450m June

Description

Pedicularis mollis is a widespread Himalayan lousewort ranging through Nepal, China (Xizang, Yunnan), India and Bhutan, and is comparatively well collected, with GBIF holding nearly 392 occurrences. It grows in the subalpine and lower alpine zones, typically between about 3000 and 4200 m, in open coniferous and Rhododendron forest, on grassy slopes, in damp meadows and along the margins of streams and tarns. The photographed plant from Dur-Tso in Bhutan at 3450 m, flowering in June, exemplifies its preference for moist, well-watered montane ground where it associates with sedges and other meadow forbs. Like all louseworts it is a hemiparasite, drawing water and minerals from the roots of neighbouring plants.

It is a robust perennial with erect, softly pubescent stems arising from a stout rootstock. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate in outline and pinnately to pinnatipartite divided, the segments themselves toothed and clothed in soft hairs that give the species its epithet. The inflorescence is a dense, elongating terminal spike subtended by leafy bracts. Each flower has a tubular, toothed calyx and a strongly two-lipped corolla, typically pink to purplish, the hooded upper lip (galea) curved into a beak enclosing the anthers, the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. Pollination is chiefly by long-tongued bumblebees, and the fruit is an oblique capsule with several seeds.

Pedicularis is one of the largest genera of the northern hemisphere, reaching its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where dozens of species partition habitat and pollinator. P. mollis is distinguished by its soft pubescence, leaf dissection and galea form. The genus's hemiparasitic habit makes its members important to meadow community structure, while specialised bumblebee pollination links reproductive success to montane pollinator populations now under pressure from land-use and climatic change.

Author: Wall. ex Benth · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Pennell 'The Scrophulariaceae of the Western Himalayas', Yamazaki monograph of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis oederi

by G & P Jürgens

Vahl

Nepal 99 125 ergebnis
West-Nepal South of Rara-Lake 3650m, June
Garh 07 370 ergebnis
Garh 07 516 ergebnis
India Garhwal Khiar Kutti 3800m, June

Description

Pedicularis oederi is a circumboreal and arctic-alpine lousewort with an enormous range encompassing northern Europe, Siberia, the mountains of Central Asia, the Himalaya and arctic North America; GBIF documents over 8600 occurrences across Scandinavia, Russia, China, the Alps, the Himalaya and beyond. It is a plant of moist alpine meadows, snowbed margins, marshy turf and stony slopes, generally between about 3000 and 4500 m in the Himalaya. The image, taken south of Rara Lake in West Nepal at 3650 m and at Khiar Kutti in Garhwal at 3800 m, both in June, shows it flowering in early summer in moist high-alpine grassland where snowmelt sustains its preferred damp, well-lit pastures.

It is a low, tufted perennial herb arising from a short rootstock with fleshy roots. The leaves are mostly basal, forming a rosette, oblong-lanceolate in outline and pinnatisect into numerous closely set, toothed segments, giving a fern-like appearance; stem leaves are few and reduced. The flowers are borne in a dense, oblong terminal spike, the corolla pale yellow and characteristically marked with red or purple on the galea. The corolla is strongly two-lipped: the upper lip forms a beakless, laterally compressed hood (galea) enclosing the four didynamous stamens, the lower lip three-lobed. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid capsule with several seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, this species is hemiparasitic, attaching to the roots of neighbouring alpine plants via haustoria while retaining its own chlorophyll, an adaptation that aids establishment in nutrient-poor cold soils. The genus is exceptionally diverse and speciose in the Sino-Himalayan region, and P. oederi is among its most widely distributed members. It is of no conservation concern, but its dependence on moist, intact alpine meadow communities makes it a useful indicator of high-mountain habitat quality.

Author: Vahl · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China (Orobanchaceae), Flowers of the Himalaya (Polunin & Stainton), Yamazaki revision of Asian Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis oederi var. heteroglossa

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Nepal 99 125 ergebnis
Nepal Bhulbhule 3400m, June
Nepal 99 126 ergebnis
Nepal Bhulbhule 3400m, June

Description

Pedicularis oederi var. heteroglossa is a hemiparasitic perennial herb of the family Orobanchaceae, belonging to one of the largest and most diversified genera of the alpine flora of the Sino-Himalayan region. The variety is distributed across the high mountains of central and eastern Asia, with GBIF records concentrated in China, Nepal, India and Bhutan and extending to Japan; this circum-Himalayan to East Asian range reflects the wide ecological amplitude of the typical species. It is a plant of open alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, screes and the margins of snow-fed flushes, generally between 3,000 and 4,500 m. The collection illustrated here from Bhulbhule in Nepal at about 3,400 m in June represents a characteristic subalpine to alpine habitat where the plant flowers as the snow recedes.

It forms a low, tufted rosette herb arising from a short rootstock, the stems usually solitary and rarely exceeding 15–25 cm. The leaves are mostly basal, oblong-lanceolate in outline and deeply pinnatisect, the segments themselves toothed or pinnatifid, giving a finely divided, fern-like appearance. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal spike of zygomorphic flowers subtended by leafy bracts. The corolla is bilabiate and typically yellow, the galea (upper lip) helmet-shaped and often marked with red or purple toward the apex, the lower lip three-lobed; the diagnostic feature of var. heteroglossa lies in the form and coloration of the galea and beak. The fruit is a flattened, ovoid capsule containing several seeds.

As a root hemiparasite, the species draws water and nutrients from neighbouring graminoids and forbs via haustoria, while retaining functional chlorophyll. Pedicularis is taxonomically notoriously complex, with the P. oederi aggregate showing strong infraspecific variation that has generated numerous varieties such as this one. The genus is also of ecological interest for its specialised pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. Though not currently considered threatened, high-altitude Pedicularis populations are sensitive to grazing pressure and climate-driven shifts in the alpine snowline.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Yamazaki: Taxonomic Revision of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis oederi var. sinensis

by GP Jürgens

(Maxim.) Hurus.

BhutanPG2011 588
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Miluthang, 4500m July

Description

Pedicularis oederi var. sinensis is a hemiparasitic perennial of the high eastern Himalaya and Sino-Himalayan ranges, distributed across China, Bhutan and India (CN, BT, IN), with some 195 documented occurrences. It is a plant of open alpine turf, stony slopes, moist meadows and the margins of snowbeds in the subalpine to alpine and subnival belts, typically between about 3500 and 5000 m. The collection illustrated here was made along the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Miluthang in Bhutan at 4500 m in July, an elevation and timing characteristic of its summer flowering in the wake of melting snow, where it derives part of its nutrition by parasitising the roots of neighbouring graminoids and herbs.

The plant forms a low, tufted rosette arising from a stout, fleshy taproot and a short caudex, with one to several erect or ascending, sparingly leafy flowering stems. The leaves are mostly basal, oblong-lanceolate in outline and pinnatisect, the segments oblong and serrate-crenate, the rachis often woolly. The inflorescence is a dense, oblong to capitate terminal spike subtended by leafy bracts. The corolla is two-lipped and yellow, the galea usually marked with red-brown or purple at the apex and beakless, hooded over the four didynamous stamens, while the lower lip is three-lobed and spreading. The calyx is tubular and lobed; the fruit is an obliquely ovoid, compressed capsule containing several seeds.

The genus Pedicularis (lousewort) reaches its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalayan alpine flora, and P. oederi is a circumpolar-alpine species whose Himalayan populations are treated as var. sinensis. Its beakless galea places it among the non-rostrate louseworts, and like its congeners it relies on long-tongued bumblebees for pollination. As a facultative root hemiparasite it can influence the composition of alpine plant communities. Though locally common across its range, it is sensitive to grazing pressure and to climatic shifts affecting the duration of snow cover.

Author: (Maxim.) Hurus. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Pedicularis of the Sino-Himalaya (Yamazaki monograph)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis pantlingii

by G & P Jürgens

Prain

Sikkim2003 205 P285
Sikkim Dzongri 3900m, August
BhutanPG2011 719 ergebnis
Bhutan Timphu 2490m, July

Description

Pedicularis pantlingii is an alpine hemiparasitic herb of the eastern Himalaya, distributed across India (notably Sikkim), China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, with the Austrian (AT) record almost certainly representing cultivated or herbarium-derived material rather than a natural occurrence. The roughly 114 georeferenced collections concentrate along the high mountain arc from Sikkim and Bhutan into adjacent south-eastern Tibet. It favours moist alpine meadows, open grassy slopes, streamsides and the margins of rhododendron and dwarf-shrub thickets. As the photographed material from Sikkim's Dzongri at 3900 m in August and from Bhutan near Thimphu at 2490 m in July shows, the species ranges from upper temperate to alpine elevations, flowering through the summer monsoon when these pastures are at their most lush.

Like most members of the genus, it is a semi-parasitic perennial drawing water and nutrients from neighbouring roots via haustoria. The stems arise from a short rootstock and bear leaves that are oblong to lanceolate in outline and pinnatisect, the segments toothed and often crisped at the margin. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or raceme, each subtended by a leafy bract, with a tubular, toothed calyx. The corolla is strongly two-lipped and characteristically galeate: the hooded upper lip (galea) is frequently prolonged into a slender beak enclosing the four didynamous stamens, while the spreading three-lobed lower lip forms a landing platform for bumblebee pollinators. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid, laterally compressed capsule containing several seeds.

The genus Pedicularis (lousewort) is exceptionally diverse in the Sino-Himalayan region, which forms its global centre of speciation, and the elaborate corolla beaks reflect tight coevolution with long-tongued bumblebees. Commemorating the collector Robert Pantling of the Sikkim botanical surveys, P. pantlingii is a regional endemic of restricted range. Although not formally assessed as threatened, its dependence on intact alpine pasture makes it sensitive to overgrazing and climate-driven upslope shifts of montane vegetation.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of Nepal, Tsoong's Monograph of the Genus Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis pauciflora

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain ex Maxim.) Pennell

Bhutan2012 290 ergebnis
Bhutan Tsotchentchen 3980m, June
Sikkim2003 173 P234 ergebnis
Sikkim Dzongri, 3900m August
Sikkim2003 375 G526 ergebnis
Sikkim Dzongri, 3900m August

Description

Pedicularis pauciflora is a hemiparasitic herb of the eastern Himalaya, distributed across Nepal, NE India (Sikkim, West Bengal) and Bhutan, with GBIF documenting some 43 georeferenced records concentrated in this narrow arc. It is a plant of the alpine and subalpine zone, occupying moist meadows, open turf and rocky slopes between roughly 3,500 and 4,200 m. The photographed populations at Tsotchentchen in Bhutan (3,980 m, flowering in June) and at Dzongri in Sikkim (3,900 m, August) typify its habitat in cool, well-drained alpine grassland kept moist by monsoon precipitation and snowmelt.

It is a perennial forming a slender, often few-stemmed tuft from a fibrous rootstock. The leaves are pinnatisect, the lobes oblong and crenate-dentate, glabrous to sparsely hairy and arranged in a basal rosette with a few reduced cauline leaves. As the epithet pauciflora indicates, the inflorescence is few-flowered, the flowers borne in the upper leaf axils. The zygomorphic corolla is bilabiate with a galeate upper lip prolonged into a slender beak and a spreading three-lobed lower lip, in shades of pink to purple-rose. The fruit is an obliquely ovoid capsule enclosing several seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, the genus exemplifies facultative root hemiparasitism, drawing water and nutrients from host roots via haustoria while retaining functional photosynthesis. The galeate, beaked corolla is an adaptation to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees prevalent at high elevation. Pedicularis is a notoriously large and taxonomically complex genus in the Himalaya, and P. pauciflora is best distinguished from allied species by its reduced flower number and beak morphology. Its restricted alpine range makes it potentially sensitive to grazing pressure and climatic shifts in the high Himalaya.

Author: (Prain ex Maxim.) Pennell · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 18, Yamazaki: Revision of the Asiatic Pedicularis (Scrophulariaceae)

Orchideaceae

Pedicularis pectinata subsp. palans

by G & P Jürgens

(Prain) Pennell

Nepal 99 478 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3300m, June

Description

Pedicularis pectinata subsp. palans is a hemiparasitic herb of the western and central Himalaya, recorded from India, Pakistan and Nepal, where GBIF documents a small number of occurrences (11). It inhabits open alpine and subalpine slopes, grazed meadows and stony pastures, typically between roughly 3000 and 4000 m. The photographed plant comes from the Churta Khola in West Nepal at about 3300 m, flowering in June, a setting of damp, herb-rich turf where snowmelt persists into early summer.

Like other members of the genus, it is a perennial forming a basal rosette and erect, leafy flowering stems. The leaves are pinnatisect with the pinnae themselves toothed (pectinate), giving the foliage a fern-like aspect. The flowers are borne in a dense terminal spike; each has a tubular, two-lipped corolla, the galea (upper lip) often beaked or prolonged and the lower lip three-lobed and spreading, in shades of pink to rose-purple. The fruit is a flattened, oblique capsule enclosing several seeds.

The name is treated by GBIF as a synonym, with Pedicularis pectinata palans regarded as the accepted taxon. Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae, here labelled Orchideaceae in the source) is a notoriously variable, root-hemiparasitic genus, drawing water and nutrients from host roots while retaining green photosynthetic tissue. Its Himalayan species are pollinated chiefly by bumblebees, the corolla architecture closely matched to bee morphology. Such infraspecific taxa are valued markers of alpine biogeography and warrant continued field study.

Author: (Prain) Pennell · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, Pennell's monograph of the Scrophulariaceae of the Himalaya

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis porrecta

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex Benth.

Nepal 99 514 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3900m, June
Nepal 99 289 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kalmura 4200m, June

Description

Pedicularis porrecta is a hemiparasitic perennial herb of the high Himalaya, recorded by GBIF chiefly from Nepal and northern India, with some 55 georeferenced occurrences across the central and western chain. It inhabits open alpine and subalpine turf, moist grassy slopes, and the margins of pastures and snow-melt flushes, where its roots form haustorial connections to neighbouring graminoids and herbs. The photographed populations grow in West Nepal at Churta-Khola at about 3900 m and at Kalmura at roughly 4200 m, both flowering in June as the monsoon advances; such elevations between about 3500 and 4500 m typify the species across its range.

The plant produces erect, sparingly branched stems arising from a short caudex, clad in pinnatisect to pinnatipartite leaves whose oblong segments bear crenate-dentate, often cartilaginous-toothed margins. The flowers are borne in a terminal, somewhat lax spike or interrupted raceme, each subtended by a leafy bract. The calyx is tubular and unequally toothed, while the bilabiate corolla shows the galeate upper lip characteristic of the genus, here produced into a forward-pointing or short-beaked galea (the epithet porrecta meaning extended forward), the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. Fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule enclosing flattened seeds.

Pedicularis is among the most species-rich genera of the Himalaya, with intense radiation linked to bumblebee pollination and corolla-beak diversity that partitions pollinators among sympatric taxa. As an obligate hemiparasite, P. porrecta influences alpine community structure, often acting as a keystone that modulates the vigour of dominant grasses. No formal conservation assessment exists; its alpine habitats are nonetheless sensitive to warming, shifting snow regimes, and grazing pressure across the Nepalese and Indian Himalaya.

Author: Wall. ex Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Pedicularis monograph (Tsoong / Prain)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis regeliana

by GP Jürgens

Prain

BhutanPG2011 521
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4500m June

Description

Pedicularis regeliana is a high-alpine lousewort of the Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, with about 72 GBIF occurrences reflecting a restricted high-elevation range. It grows in alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, marshy turf and streamsides near the upper limit of vegetation, generally around 4000 to 4800 m. The plant photographed along the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail near Dem-Tso in Bhutan at about 4500 m in June illustrates its occurrence in damp alpine grassland and lake margins, flowering in early summer when the high pastures green after snowmelt.

The species is a perennial herb arising from a short rootstock, with erect or ascending stems and leaves that are pinnatisect to pinnatipartite, the segments narrow and toothed, in basal and cauline arrangements. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or raceme, each subtended by a leafy bract; the strongly zygomorphic corolla is two-lipped, with the upper lip (galea) hooded and often beaked and the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. The four didynamous stamens lie within the galea, and the fruit is a flattened capsule releasing several seeds.

Pedicularis is an exceptionally species-rich genus that, like other former Scrophulariaceae now placed in Orobanchaceae, comprises hemiparasites drawing water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring plants while retaining green, photosynthetic foliage. The genus reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where the varied galea shapes are tied to specialisation for bumblebee pollination. As a high-altitude endemic of limited range, P. regeliana is an alpine specialist sensitive to disturbance of montane meadows, though it has not been formally evaluated for threat status.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Prain's account of Indian Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis rhinanthoides subst. labellata

by G & P Jürgens

(Decne.) Pennell

Nepal 99 796 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4500m, July
Nepal 99 797 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4500m, July

Description

Pedicularis rhinanthoides subsp. labellata is a high-alpine lousewort of the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau, the GBIF records (treated here as a synonym of the accepted Pedicularis rhinanthoides labellata) falling within China and India, with the species at large extending through Nepal and adjacent ranges; the small number of georeferenced occurrences reflects its restriction to remote high elevations. It grows in wet alpine meadows, marshy turf, seepage slopes and streamside flushes, characteristically between about 4000 and 5000 m. The photographed plant from Baga-La-Phedi in West Nepal at 4500 m in July is typical of its mid-summer flowering in damp, high-alpine pasture near the snowline.

It is a low, hemiparasitic perennial herb rooting into the roots of neighbouring grasses and sedges, with one to several ascending stems from a short rootstock. The leaves are mostly basal and pinnatisect, the segments narrow, toothed and crisped. The flowers are borne in a short terminal raceme; the rose-pink to purplish corolla is strongly two-lipped, with a long-tubed galea drawn out into a slender, often beaked upper lip and a broad, conspicuous lower lip, the well-developed lip being the basis of the epithet labellata. The fruit is a flattened, obliquely ovoid capsule containing several seeds.

The vast genus Pedicularis reaches its greatest diversity in the Sino-Himalayan alpine zone, where galea form is closely tied to specialised bumblebee pollination. This taxon, a regional subspecies of the widespread P. rhinanthoides, exemplifies the fine-scale infraspecific variation pervading the genus. As a habitat-restricted hemiparasite of high wet meadows it is potentially sensitive to grazing change and warming, though it has not been formally assessed.

Author: (Decne.) Pennell · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Flora of British India, Pedicularis of the Sino-Himalaya (Tsoong/Yang revision)