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Summer

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis roylei

by GP Jürgens

Maxim

BhutanPG2011 543
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4600m June
Nepal 99 663 ergebnis
Nepal

Description

Pedicularis roylei is a Himalayan lousewort distributed from China and Pakistan eastward through Nepal, India and Bhutan, with more than 570 GBIF occurrences. It is a plant of moist alpine meadow, marshy turf and the margins of glacial pools and streamlets, characteristically growing at high elevation between about 3800 and 4800 m. The population photographed near Dem-Tso on the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail in Bhutan at 4600 m, flowering in June, with additional records in Nepal, illustrates its affinity for damp, short alpine swards near the snow line.

Like other Pedicularis it is a hemiparasitic perennial herb that attaches to the roots of neighbouring plants. It forms low tufts with a short rootstock, the stems few and ascending. The leaves are mostly basal and clustered, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect with toothed lobes, the cauline leaves fewer. The flowers are borne in a dense terminal head or short spike; the bilabiate corolla is pink to reddish-purple, with a galeate upper lip (galea) that is beakless or shortly hooded and a spreading, three-lobed lower lip. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule containing few seeds.

Pedicularis reaches extraordinary diversity in the Sino-Himalaya, where root hemiparasitism and specialised pollination by long-tongued bumblebees have driven rapid speciation and floral diversification. P. roylei, described by Maximowicz, is widespread and not threatened, but as a parasite tied to particular alpine meadow hosts and pollinators it is a sensitive component of high-altitude grassland ecosystems.

Author: Maxim · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Prain account of Indo-Himalayan Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis schizorrhyncha

by GP Jürgens

Prain

BhutanPG2011 532
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Dem-Tso, 4650m June

Description

Pedicularis schizorrhyncha Prain is a high-alpine lousewort restricted to the eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, Bhutan and India, with only some 41 GBIF occurrences underscoring its narrow distribution and elevated habitat. It occupies moist alpine meadows, turf, seepage margins and the edges of glacial tarns, typically between about 4000 and 4800 m. The illustrated plant from the Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Dem-Tso in Bhutan, at roughly 4650 m in June, is representative of its strict confinement to the cool, short-summer subnival belt near the upper limit of vascular plant growth.

The species is a low perennial hemiparasitic herb arising from a slender rootstock, with few erect or ascending stems bearing pinnately divided to pinnatisect leaves whose lobes are toothed and crisped. The flowers are borne in a short terminal spike, each subtended by a leaf-like bract; the calyx is tubular and toothed, and the strongly zygomorphic corolla has an upper lip or galea prolonged into a slender, downcurved, conspicuously bifid or cleft beak, the feature recalled by the epithet schizorrhyncha. The fruit is an oblique, laterally compressed capsule.

Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae) is an enormous Sino-Himalayan radiation, and the long-beaked species form a coherent group adapted to specialised long-tongued bumblebee pollination. As a root hemiparasite, P. schizorrhyncha draws supplementary nutrients from neighbouring alpine plants. Its restricted range and sensitivity to alpine habitat change make it a species warranting monitoring, though it remains formally unassessed.

Author: Prain · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Prain and Tsoong monographic treatments of Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis scullyana

by G & P Jürgens

Prain ex Maxim.

Nepal 99 332 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kalmura 4000m, June

Description

Pedicularis scullyana is an alpine hemiparasitic herb endemic to the Himalaya and adjacent Tibetan margins, recorded from Nepal, India, Bhutan and China across some 217 GBIF occurrences. The illustrated plant was photographed at Kalmura in West Nepal at about 4000 m in June. It inhabits open alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes and the margins of scrub between roughly 3500 and 4500 m, growing in the short turf where, like all lousewort, it draws water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring grasses and herbs through haustorial connections.

The plant is a perennial herb with a fascicled rootstock and erect or ascending stems. The leaves are alternate or sub-opposite, pinnatisect into closely toothed segments, giving the fern-like foliage typical of the genus. The flowers are borne in a terminal spike or raceme; each has a tubular calyx and a strongly two-lipped corolla, the upper lip (galea) hooded and often beaked to enclose the anthers, the lower lip three-lobed and spreading. Pollination is by long-tongued bumblebees, and the fruit is a flattened capsule releasing several seeds.

Pedicularis is one of the largest genera of the Himalayan alpine flora and a notable example of an explosive radiation, with the diversity of galea and beak forms reflecting specialisation for bumblebee pollination. As facultative root hemiparasites, the species influence community composition by suppressing dominant graminoids. P. scullyana is a regional endemic of restricted range; while not formally assessed as threatened, such narrowly distributed alpines are sensitive to grazing intensity and climate-driven shifts in the alpine zone.

Author: Prain ex Maxim. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Yamazaki – Taxonomic Revision of Pedicularis (Himalaya)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis siphonantha

by GP Jürgens

D.Don

Sikkim2011 202
Sikkim Lachung 3000m, June
BhutanPG2011 735 01 01
Bhutan Haa-Valley, 2750m June
Bhutan2012 77
Bhutan Shele-La, 4000m September
Sikkim2003 115 P155
Sikkim below Dzongri 4000m August

Description

Pedicularis siphonantha is a Himalayan lousewort distributed through southern China, Nepal, northern India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Myanmar and Pakistan, well represented in GBIF with 810 occurrences. It is a plant of moist alpine and subalpine meadows, open hillsides, Rhododendron scrub and streamside turf, mostly between 2700 and 4500 m. The accompanying records span its range and season: Lachung in Sikkim at 3000 m and the Haa Valley in Bhutan at 2750 m in June, and the higher Shele-La (4000 m) and slopes below Dzongri (4000 m) flowering on into August and September, reflecting a long summer-to-autumn anthesis across an altitudinal gradient.

It is a perennial herb with erect or ascending stems arising from a stout rootstock, bearing leaves that are pinnatisect into oblong, doubly toothed segments. The rose-pink to purplish-red flowers are crowded in terminal racemes; the corolla is strongly two-lipped, its most distinctive feature a long, slender, often curved or twisted tubular galea drawn out into a beak (the siphon-like form giving the epithet), with a spreading three-lobed lower lip. The four stamens lie under the galea, and the fruit is an obliquely ovoid capsule containing several seeds.

Like all Pedicularis, it is a hemiparasite, drawing water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring meadow plants through haustoria while retaining green photosynthetic foliage. The elongate corolla tube indicates pollination by long-tongued bumblebees. Pedicularis is exceptionally species-rich and difficult in the Sino-Himalaya, with corolla architecture central to species delimitation. Widespread and locally abundant, P. siphonantha is not regarded as threatened, though louseworts as a group are sensitive to changes in their host-rich alpine grassland communities.

Author: D.Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Yamazaki: Pedicularis monograph

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis trichodonta

by G & P Jürgens

T.Yamaz.

BhutanPG2011 657 ergebnis
Bhutan Thitha-Tso, 4360m, July
BhutanPG2011 658 ergebnis
Bhutan Thitha-Tso, 4360m, July

Description

Pedicularis trichodonta is a perennial hemiparasitic herb native to the eastern Himalayas, recorded from Nepal, northeast India (Sikkim), and Bhutan. The species inhabits alpine meadows, moist turf, and Rhododendron scrub margins at elevations of 3,800–4,800 m, attaching to the roots of neighbouring grasses and other herbaceous hosts for supplementary water and nutrient uptake. It has been documented from the Thitha-Tso area in Bhutan at 4,360 m, flowering in July during the monsoon, when alpine meadows in the eastern Himalayas reach their peak floral diversity.
The plant produces erect to ascending stems 10–25 cm tall from a fascicle of fleshy, fusiform roots. The leaves are mostly basal and sub-opposite on the stem, oblong-lanceolate in outline, 3–7 cm long, deeply pinnatisect with numerous linear to oblong segments that are themselves dentate, the teeth bearing fine, hair-like extensions — the character from which the specific epithet trichodonta ("hair-toothed") is derived. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal, capitate to shortly spicate raceme. The calyx is tubular, membranous, with five unequal, denticulate lobes. The corolla is bilabiate, typically pink to purplish-red, 15–20 mm long; the upper lip (galea) is falcate-incurved, beakless or very shortly beaked, while the lower lip is three-lobed and spreading. The capsule is obliquely ovoid, compressed, slightly exserted from the calyx.
Pedicularis trichodonta was described by Tetsuo Yamazaki and belongs to one of the most species-rich genera of flowering plants, with over 600 species worldwide, the majority concentrated in the Sino-Himalayan region. With only about 33 occurrence records in GBIF, the species is among the less frequently collected members of the genus in the eastern Himalayas. Its hemiparasitic ecology makes it dependent on intact alpine plant communities, and disruption of host populations through overgrazing or climate-driven vegetation change could indirectly threaten its persistence. Further collections are needed to clarify its full range and population status.

Author: T.Yamaz. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Flora of China Vol. 18, Yamazaki: Pedicularis of Nepal (1988)

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis trichoglossa

by GP Jürgens

Hook. f.

Sikkim2003 317 P451
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4300m August

Description

Pedicularis trichoglossa is a striking alpine lousewort of the Himalaya and Sino-Himalayan mountains, with 547 georeferenced records from China (CN), Nepal (NP), Bhutan (BT), India (IN) and Myanmar (MM). It is a plant of high alpine meadows, moist grassy slopes, streamsides and the margins of glacial lakes, typically between about 3500 and 4800 m. The population recorded at Saniti Lake in Sikkim at 4300 m in August is characteristic of its occurrence in damp, late-season alpine turf, where it flowers in the post-monsoon weeks alongside other high-elevation herbs. Its broad east-Himalayan distribution makes it a conspicuous element of the upper alpine flora.

It is an erect perennial herb with one to several simple or sparingly branched stems arising from a short rootstock. The leaves are alternate to subopposite, pinnatisect into many small, toothed segments, in the typical fern-like fashion of the genus. The flowers are crowded into a dense, elongate terminal spike, deep reddish-purple to wine-red, conspicuous against the foliage. Each strongly two-lipped corolla has a hooded, beaked galea formed by the upper lip, the beak conspicuously fringed with long purple hairs, a feature reflected in the epithet trichoglossa (hairy-tongued). The fruit is an oblique, beaked capsule containing several seeds.

Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae) is one of the largest and most diverse genera of the Himalayan alpine zone, where it has undergone remarkable radiation in floral form linked to bumblebee pollination; the hairy, beaked galea of P. trichoglossa is one such specialised adaptation. Like all members of the genus it is a hemiparasite, drawing water and nutrients from the roots of neighbouring plants via haustoria while retaining green, photosynthetic foliage. The species is widespread and frequent, of no conservation concern, but it is a valuable indicator of intact high-alpine meadow communities.

Author: Hook. f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Prain and Tsoong monographic studies of Asian Pedicularis

Orobanchaceae

Pedicularis X

by GP Jürgens

?

Nepal 99 597 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3800m, June

Description

Pedicularis X denotes a Himalayan lousewort of uncertain or hybrid identity (the GBIF return resolves only to Plantae, with the global occurrence figure of over 634 million reflecting that kingdom-level match rather than the taxon itself, so distributional data here are uninformative). On evidence of the genus and the locality, it is a montane to alpine plant of moist meadows, scrub margins and tall-herb communities in the Western Himalaya. The image record from Churta-Khola in West Nepal at 3800 m, in June, places it in the early-summer subalpine-to-alpine zone where Pedicularis is most diverse and conspicuous.

Louseworts are perennial (sometimes annual) herbs with leaves that are typically alternate to whorled and pinnately divided into toothed segments, often fern-like in aspect. The flowers are borne in terminal spikes or racemes and are strongly zygomorphic: the calyx is tubular and toothed, and the bilabiate corolla has an upper lip (galea) frequently produced into a beak or rostrum enclosing the anthers, while the three-lobed lower lip forms a landing platform. Corolla colour ranges from pink and purple to yellow and white. The fruit is a flattened, often asymmetric capsule containing several seeds. Such floral architecture is adapted to pollination by long-tongued bumblebees.

Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae, formerly Scrophulariaceae) is a hemiparasitic genus of extraordinary richness in the Sino-Himalaya, where rapid radiation and frequent hybridisation produce taxonomically difficult complexes, consistent with the provisional designation here. As root hemiparasites the plants form haustorial connections to host roots, influencing meadow community composition. Firm identification requires examining galea form, leaf division and corolla details against regional monographs.

Author: ? · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated checklist of the flowering plants of Nepal, Yamazaki revision of Asian Pedicularis

Polygonaceae

Persicaria wallichii

by GP Jürgens

Greuter & Burdet

Bhutan2015 483
Bhutan Pele-La 3100m, October
Sikkim2003 410 G570
Sikkim Zemu Valley 3400m August

Description

Persicaria wallichii (the accepted name under which this taxon is listed, the binomial here being treated as a synonym in GBIF) is a robust perennial knotweed native to the Himalaya and adjacent mountains of China and Myanmar, where it occupies open hillsides, forest margins, riverbanks and disturbed ground in the temperate and subalpine zones. From its Himalayan homeland it has spread widely as an introduced and frequently invasive plant, the GBIF dataset recording it across much of Europe as well as North and South America and New Zealand, totalling well over a thousand occurrences. The illustrated plants from Pele-La in Bhutan at 3100 m, flowering in October, and from the Zemu Valley in Sikkim at 3400 m in August, exemplify its native montane setting.

The plant forms tall, spreading clumps from a vigorous, far-creeping rhizome, with erect to ascending stems that are reddish-tinged and somewhat woody at the base. The leaves are large, ovate-lanceolate to triangular, acuminate, cordate to truncate at the base, often white-tomentose beneath, and subtended by membranous, brownish ochreae sheathing the swollen nodes. The numerous small flowers are borne in much-branched, lax panicles of slender spike-like racemes; each flower has a white to pinkish perianth of five tepals enclosing eight stamens and a trifid style. The fruit is a small, glossy, three-angled (trigonous) achene enclosed by the persistent perianth.

Formerly placed in Polygonum and Aconogonon (reflected in the synonymy and field labels), the species sits within a much-revised section of Persicaria. Its dense rhizomatous growth allows it to form persistent thickets, and outside its native range it behaves as an aggressive colonist of riverbanks and waste ground, prompting management concern in several countries; within the Himalaya it remains a common and ecologically benign component of moist montane vegetation.

Author: Greuter & Burdet · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China (Polygonaceae), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal

Hydrangeaceae

Philadelphus tomentosus

by G & P Jürgens

Wall. ex G. Don

Sikkim2011 33
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June
Sikkim2011 177
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June
Sikkim2011 390
Sikkim Lachung 2600m, June

Description

Philadelphus tomentosus, the Himalayan mock-orange, is native to the temperate Himalaya, ranging from Nepal through Sikkim and Bhutan into northern India and SW China, with the many additional GBIF country codes (US, DE, BE, GB, PL and others) reflecting its wide cultivation as an ornamental shrub rather than a natural range. Some 388 occurrence records underpin this. The photographed plant was found at Lachung in northern Sikkim at about 2,600 m in June, at the onset of flowering. In the wild it is a shrub of temperate forest margins, ravines, open slopes and streamsides, typically between 1,800 and 3,000 m, often among mixed broadleaf and conifer woodland.

It is a deciduous shrub with arching branches and exfoliating bark on older stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, with a denticulate margin and three to five main veins from the base; the lower surface is densely tomentose with greyish hairs, a character giving the species its epithet. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes or panicles and are fragrant, with four white obovate petals, a cup-shaped hypanthium, four sepals and numerous stamens surrounding a four-locular inferior ovary tipped by partly divided styles. The fruit is a small woody capsule dehiscing loculicidally to release numerous minute seeds.

The genus Philadelphus is centred on the Northern Hemisphere and is taxonomically complex owing to hybridisation and horticultural selection; the leaf indumentum and floral dimensions distinguish P. tomentosus from related Asian species. Long valued in gardens for its scented blossom, it has naturalised in parts of Europe and North America. It remains common in its native montane forests and is of no conservation concern.

Author: Wall. ex G. Don · Sources: POWO (Kew), Flora of China Vol. 8, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, GBIF, Hu: A Monograph of the Genus Philadelphus

Lamiaceae

Phlomoides bracteosa

by G & P Jürgens

(Royle ex Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm.

Nepal 99 353 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kalmura 3700m, June
Garh 07 209 ergebnis
India Garhwal Panwali 3300m, June

Description

Phlomoides bracteosa is a robust perennial herb of the alpine and subalpine zones of the western and central Himalaya and adjacent Central Asia. Its distribution, documented from over 330 georeferenced records, spans India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, China, Bhutan and Kazakhstan, reflecting a broad Irano-Turanian to Sino-Himalayan range. It favours open grassy slopes, forest margins, moist meadows and stabilised screes, typically between 2500 and 4000 m. The accompanying material was gathered at Kalmura in West Nepal at 3700 m and at Panwali in Garhwal, India, at 3300 m, both in June, near the onset of the monsoon flowering peak.

The plant forms erect, quadrangular, often purplish stems arising from a stout rootstock, reaching 0.5-1 m. The leaves are opposite, broadly ovate to cordate, rugose above with an impressed venation, crenate-serrate at the margin, and densely tomentose beneath. The inflorescence consists of several remote, many-flowered verticillasters subtended by conspicuous, often coloured and ciliate floral bracts that give the species its epithet. The two-lipped corolla is pink to purple, the upper lip galeate and bearded, enclosing didynamous stamens; the calyx is tubular with subequal teeth. The fruit is a schizocarp of four smooth trigonous nutlets.

The species belongs to a complex once treated under Phlomis, now segregated into Phlomoides on the basis of corolla, stamen and nutlet characters supported by molecular phylogenetics. It is a frequent component of Himalayan tall-herb and grazing communities, visited by long-tongued bees and bumblebees. Though not formally assessed, its wide range and tolerance of disturbed pasture suggest it is not currently threatened.

Author: (Royle ex Benth.) Kamelin & Makhm. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Kamelin & Makhmedov revision of Phlomoides