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Summer

Brassicaceae

Arcyosperma primulifolium

by G & P Jürgens

O.E.Schulz

Garh 07 137 ergebnis
India Garhwal Kinkhola 3500m, June

Description

Arcyosperma primulifolium is a Himalayan crucifer of high-elevation forest and meadow margins, with GBIF recording 99 occurrences from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan. It occupies moist, shaded slopes, forest edges and damp turf in the upper temperate to subalpine zone, often among rocks and along the transition between birch-rhododendron forest and open alpine pasture. The image was taken at Kinkhola in Garhwal, India, at about 3500 m in June, when the plants flower as the high meadows green up after the spring thaw.

It is a perennial herb with a stout rootstock from which arise a rosette of long-petioled, lyrate to pinnatifid basal leaves; the lamina, with its rounded, crenate terminal lobe, recalls the foliage of a primrose, as the epithet primulifolium notes. The flowering stems are erect and bear smaller, less divided leaves below an elongating raceme. The flowers are white, with four sepals, four clawed petals and the tetradynamous stamens of the Brassicaceae. The fruit is a slender, somewhat flattened silique that distinguishes the monotypic genus; the seeds are arranged in the pod in the manner reflected by the generic name Arcyosperma.

Arcyosperma (Brassicaceae) is a monotypic genus segregated by O. E. Schulz, restricted to the Himalaya and allied within the family's diverse Asian montane crucifers. Its distinctive lyrate leaves and fruit characters set it apart from related genera such as Cardamine and Draba with which it co-occurs. Being a narrow-ranged montane endemic of a single species, it is of particular taxonomic and biogeographic interest, and like other high-Himalayan herbs its populations depend on intact subalpine forest and meadow habitats.

Author: O.E.Schulz · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Pakistan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Jafri's Flora of West Pakistan (Brassicaceae), Schulz's treatment of Cruciferae in Engler's Das Pflanzenreich

Caryophyllaceae

Arenaria melandryoides 

by G & P Jürgens

Edgew.

Nepal 99 651 2 ergebnis
West-Nepal Kagmara-La 5000m, July

Description

Arenaria melandryoides is a high-alpine cushion plant of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded from China, Bhutan, India and Nepal across 35 GBIF occurrences. It is a specialist of the upper alpine and subnival belt, occupying open screes, gravelly slopes, moraines and rock crevices at very high elevations, typically above 4000 m. The population imaged on the Kagmara-La in West Nepal at 5000 m in July exemplifies its extreme montane habitat, where it flowers during the brief summer growing season amid sparse, frost-pruned vegetation on exposed, well-drained substrates.

The species is a low, tufted to cushion-forming perennial herb with a stout, woody rootstock and numerous short, densely leafy shoots forming compact mats. The leaves are small, sessile, linear-lanceolate and somewhat rigid, opposite and crowded, often ciliate. The flowers are solitary or few, borne on short pedicels; the calyx comprises five free, lanceolate sepals, and the five white petals are entire and slightly exceed the calyx. There are typically ten stamens and a superior ovary bearing three styles, ripening into a capsule that dehisces by valves to shed numerous small seeds adapted to wind and gravity dispersal on open ground.

The name Arenaria melandryoides is here treated as a synonym, with the accepted name being Arenaria melandryoides; the related epithet melandryiformis reflected in the source link points to ongoing nomenclatural revision within this taxonomically complex group. Arenaria sensu lato in the Himalaya has been repeatedly recircumscribed, with many species transferred among segregate genera. As a cushion-forming subnival specialist, the plant illustrates the convergent growth forms that buffer alpine Caryophyllaceae against cold, wind and short seasons.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 6, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Pakistan, McNeill's revision of Arenaria

Caryophyllaceae

Arenaria ciliolata

by GP Jürgens

Edgew. & Hook.f.

Sikkim2003 289 P400
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4250m August

Description

Arenaria ciliolata is a small alpine sandwort of the central and eastern Himalaya, recorded from Nepal, Bhutan, India and China, with an additional outlying datum (gbif_countries: NP, BT, IN, CN, IS) and about 134 GBIF occurrences. It grows on open alpine turf, gravelly and stony slopes, rock crevices and screes well above the treeline, where it forms low cushions or mats in the cold, well-drained habitats typical of the genus. The illustrated material was collected near Saniti Lake in Sikkim at about 4250 m in August, a high-alpine setting where late-summer flowering follows snowmelt. In GBIF the name carries gbif_status SYNONYM, with Arenaria ciliolata given as the accepted name.

The plant is a tufted to mat-forming perennial arising from a branched woody base, with short, densely leafy stems. The leaves are small, opposite, sessile, narrow and rigid, often pungent-tipped and conspicuously ciliate on the margins, the feature evoked by the epithet. The flowers are solitary or few in lax cymes, with five free, white petals exceeding the five lanceolate, often ciliate-margined sepals; the stamens are typically ten and the styles three. The fruit is a capsule opening by valves or teeth at the apex to shed numerous small seeds.

Arenaria is a large, predominantly Northern Hemisphere genus of the pink family with a marked centre of diversity in the mountains of Asia, and the cushion-forming alpine species such as A. ciliolata have figured in repeated taxonomic and phylogenetic reassessments that have realigned segregates within tribe Arenarieae, accounting for the synonymy noted in GBIF. Adapted to harsh high-mountain conditions, the species is widespread across the Himalayan alpine zone and is of no conservation concern.

Author: Edgew. & Hook.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Caryophyllaceae account in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants

Caryophyllaceae

Arenaria densissima

by GP Jürgens

Wall.

Bh09 18 P30
Bhutan Chele-La, 4000m June
Bh09 19 P35
Bhutan Chele-La, 4000m June
Nepal 99 512 ergebnis
West-Nepal Churta-Khola 3900m, June

Description

Arenaria densissima is a high-alpine cushion sandwort of the Sino-Himalaya, recorded from China (CN), Nepal (NP) and Bhutan (BT), with 159 GBIF occurrences reflecting its restricted upper-montane to alpine distribution. It is a plant of stony alpine turf, gravelly slopes, screes and exposed ridges, typically between about 3800 and 4800 m, where the dense cushion habit is an adaptation to cold, wind and intense radiation. The illustrated collections were made at Chele-La in Bhutan at around 4000 m and at the Churta-Khola in West-Nepal at about 3900 m, both in June at the start of the alpine flowering season.

It is a small, mat- or cushion-forming perennial herb with a woody, branched rootstock giving rise to densely crowded, congested shoots that form low compact tufts. The leaves are small, sessile, linear to subulate and rigid, closely imbricate and often spine-tipped, creating the dense mossy cushion alluded to by the epithet densissima. The flowers are small, solitary or few, sessile or shortly pedicellate among the leaves; they have five free, ovate sepals, five entire white petals, ten stamens and a superior ovary with styles. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing by valves or teeth to release minute seeds.

Arenaria, in the family Caryophyllaceae, is a large genus well represented in the high mountains of Asia, where the cushion growth-form has evolved repeatedly as a convergent response to the alpine environment. Species such as A. densissima are characteristic of the Himalayan high-alpine cushion-plant communities and are of biogeographic and ecological interest as pioneers stabilising substrate and providing microhabitats in the cold desert and alpine zones.

Author: Wall. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Nepal, Flora of Bhutan, Monograph of the genus Arenaria (McNeill)

Caryophyllaceae

Arenaria glanduligera

by GP Jürgens

Edgew.

Sikkim2003 305 G431
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4250m, August
Sikkim2003 306 G432
Sikkim Saniti-Lake 4250m, August
Nepal 99 789 ergebnis
West-Nepal Baga-La-Phedi 4400m, July

Description

Arenaria glanduligera is a cushion- or mat-forming sandwort of the high Himalaya, recorded by GBIF (about 240 occurrences) from Nepal, China, India and Bhutan. It is a true alpine of the upper alpine and subnival zones, growing on open stony slopes, gravelly flats, moraine and exposed ridges where snow lies late and the growing season is short. The photographed plants came from Sikkim near Saniti Lake at about 4250 m in August and from West Nepal at Baga-La-Phedi at around 4400 m in July, both well above the timberline and typical of its range, which extends to over 4500 m in the wettest, most exposed habitats of the inner ranges.

The plant is a low, densely tufted perennial forming compact mats from a branched, woody base. The stems are short, crowded and glandular-hairy, the indumentum giving rise to the epithet glanduligera. The leaves are opposite, small, narrowly lanceolate to subulate, acute and somewhat rigid, often ciliate on the margins. The flowers are solitary or few at the stem tips; each has five free, lanceolate sepals and five white, entire, obovate petals that exceed the sepals, with ten stamens and a superior ovary bearing three styles. The fruit is a small capsule dehiscing by valves to release numerous minute seeds, the inflorescence rendered slightly viscid by the glandular hairs.

GBIF treats the binomial as a synonym, with Arenaria glanduligera here regarded as the accepted name for the taxon. The species belongs to the large and taxonomically intricate genus Arenaria of the Caryophyllaceae, well represented in the Himalaya by a swarm of high-alpine cushion species adapted to cold, wind and intense radiation. It is locally frequent in suitable terrain and of no conservation concern.

Author: Edgew. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, McNeill's revisional studies of Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae)

Caryophyllaceae

Arenaria rotundifolia

by GP Jürgens

M.Bieb.

Bh09 185 P322
Bhutan Phajoding, 3600m June
Sikkim 2006 414 ergebnis
India West-Bengal, Kishong 2800m, May

Description

Arenaria rotundifolia is a small alpine sandwort with a wide Eurasian montane distribution, documented by 331 georeferenced records reaching from the Caucasus and Anatolia (TR, GE, AM) and the Balkans (GR, AL, BG, ME, RS) eastward through Iran (IR) and Central Asia (KZ, UZ, TJ, KG) to China (CN), Nepal (NP) and India (IN). It is a plant of moist, open alpine and subalpine ground, growing on rocky slopes, screes, streamsides, damp turf and shaded banks at high elevation. The plants recorded at Phajoding in Bhutan at 3600 m in June and at Kishong in West Bengal at 2800 m in May illustrate its presence in cool, moist Himalayan montane habitats toward the eastern edge of its range.

It is a small, slender, tufted to loosely mat-forming perennial herb with delicate, ascending to decumbent, often glandular-hairy stems. The leaves are opposite, distinctly small and rounded, ovate to suborbicular, shortly petiolate below and sessile above, giving rise to the epithet rotundifolia. The flowers are borne in few-flowered, lax cymes; each has five free, green sepals and five white, entire (not notched) petals, ten stamens and a superior ovary with three styles, in the usual arrangement of the genus. The fruit is a small capsule opening by teeth twice the number of the styles to release numerous minute, reniform seeds.

Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae) is a large, taxonomically difficult genus of mostly cushion- or mat-forming herbs of cold and rocky habitats, in which species circumscription has long been complicated by reticulate variation across its broad Holarctic range. A. rotundifolia, with its wide trans-Eurasian montane distribution, exemplifies this pattern. It is a frequent and widespread alpine herb of no conservation concern, valued chiefly as an indicator of moist, high-elevation rock and turf communities.

Author: M.Bieb. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Flora Europaea, McNeill monographic studies of Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae)

Rosaceae

Argentina aristata

by GP Jürgens

(Soják) Soják

BhutanPG2011 515
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Shashuna, 4000m June
BhutanPG2011 547
Bhutan Ludlow-Sherriff-Trail Shashuna, 4000m June

Description

Argentina aristata is a dwarf cushion-forming herb of the high alpine zone of the Himalaya, native to Nepal, Bhutan, China, India and Pakistan, with around 75 documented occurrences confined to elevations above the tree-line. It grows on stony alpine turf, gravelly slopes, fellfield and the crevices of moraine and rock outcrops, typically between about 3800 and 5000 m. The photographed plant was recorded along the historic Ludlow-Sherriff Trail at Shashuna in Bhutan at 4000 m, flowering in June, when the brief high-altitude growing season permits these tightly clustered alpines to bloom.

The species is a densely tufted, mat-forming perennial with a stout, branched, woody caudex clothed in the persistent remains of old leaves. The leaves are imparipinnate and crowded into rosettes, with small, deeply incised to pinnatifid leaflets that are silky-villous, the segments often ending in a fine bristle-like point, as the epithet aristata implies. The flowers are solitary or few on short scapes; they are typically pentamerous with an epicalyx, the petals golden-yellow and obovate, exceeding the sepals, surrounding numerous stamens and a head of carpels. The fruit is a cluster of small dry achenes.

Argentina is segregated from Potentilla in the broad sense, comprising the silverweeds and allied pinnate-leaved cinquefoils; this taxon was long known as Potentilla microphylla var. achilleifolia before transfer by Soják. Such cushion habit is a classic adaptation to the cold, windswept, desiccating conditions of the upper alpine zone. The species is restricted in range but locally frequent in suitable high-altitude habitat and is not considered threatened.

Author: (Soják) Soják · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Potentilla monograph (Soják)

Rosaceae

Argentina microphylla 

by G & P Jürgens

(D.Don) Soják

Nepal 99 670 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Kagmara-La 4850m, July
Nepal 99 785 ergebnis
West-Nepal, Baga-La-Phedi 4250m, July

Description

Argentina microphylla is a high-alpine cushion herb of the Sino-Himalayan region, documented by GBIF from Nepal, China, India, Bhutan and Pakistan across some 272 georeferenced records. It is a characteristic species of the upper alpine and subnival belt, colonising stony slopes, glacial moraines, gravelly fellfields and turf at elevations approaching the snowline. The species was photographed in West Nepal on the Kagmara-La at 4850 m and at the Baga-La-Phedi at 4250 m, both in July, the brief window when these wind-swept screes are snow-free and the plants flower.

It forms low, mat- or cushion-forming perennials arising from a stout, woody, branched caudex clothed in persistent leaf-bases. The leaves are imparipinnate and crowded into rosettes, with numerous small, closely overlapping leaflets that are densely silky-sericeous and silvery beneath, an adaptation reducing transpiration and reflecting intense montane radiation. The flowers are solitary or few, borne on short scapes, with five green sepals alternating with an epicalyx, five obovate bright-yellow petals, numerous stamens, and an apocarpous gynoecium of many free carpels seated on a slightly hairy receptacle. The fruit is an aggregate of dry, glabrous achenes.

GBIF treats the name as accepted. The genus Argentina was segregated from Potentilla by Soják, reflecting molecular evidence that the herbaceous, pinnate-leaved "argentine" potentillas form a distinct lineage; the species accordingly appears in older Himalayan floras under Potentilla microphylla. Adapted to extreme cold, short growing seasons and unstable substrates, it is not considered threatened, its wide trans-Himalayan range and remote habitat affording natural protection.

Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Nepal, Flora of China, Soják revision of Potentilla and allied genera

Convolvulaceae

Argyreia hookeri 

by GP Jürgens

C.B.Clarke

Nepal 99 958 ergebnis
West-Nepal Thuli Bheri 2150m, July
Nepal 99 959 ergebnis
West-Nepal Thuli Bheri 2150m, July
Nepal 99 960 ergebnis
West-Nepal Thuli Bheri 2150m, July

Description

Argyreia hookeri C.B.Clarke is a woody climber of the morning-glory family native to the Himalaya and adjacent Indo-Malesian region. GBIF records indicate occurrences in Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia, marking a distribution that spans the Himalayan foothills into Southeast Asia. It grows in forest margins, thickets and along streamsides in subtropical to lower temperate forest, generally between about 1,000 and 2,300 m. The plant photographed in the Thuli Bheri valley of west Nepal at 2,150 m, flowering in July, reflects its monsoon-season anthesis in moist hill forest.

The species is a perennial twining liana with stems that are pubescent when young. The leaves are large, ovate to broadly cordate, entire, acuminate, and softly hairy beneath, borne on long petioles. The flowers are arranged in axillary, peduncled cymose clusters subtended by conspicuous bracts; the corolla is funnelform and showy, rose-pink to purple with a darker throat, the limb shallowly lobed. As in Argyreia, the fruit is an indehiscent berry enclosed by the enlarged, somewhat fleshy persistent sepals, containing a few hard seeds.

Argyreia is distinguished from the related Ipomoea chiefly by its baccate, non-capsular fruit. A. hookeri is one of numerous Himalayan species of the genus and is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental climber. The genus is noted for indole alkaloid content, and several species feature in ethnobotanical use. The species remains locally frequent across its wide range.

Author: C.B.Clarke · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China Vol. 16, Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2, Staples: Revision of Asiatic Convolvulaceae

Araceae

Arisaema consanguineum

by GP Jürgens

Schott

Bhutan2014 114
Bhutan Kadi 1600m, May
Bh09 254 P423
Bhutan Phobjika, 2900m June
Nepal 99 234 ergebnis
West-Nepal Gattalekh 2800m, June

Description

Arisaema consanguineum Schott is a widespread tuberous aroid of the Sino-Himalayan region, recorded from China, Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Japan, with cultivated records reaching Europe and North America; GBIF documents over 2000 occurrences. It grows in shaded forest, forest margins, bamboo thickets, scrub and grassy slopes, generally between about 1500 and 3300 m. The illustrated plants were recorded at Kadi (1600 m, May) and Phobjika (2900 m, June) in Bhutan and at Gattalekh in West Nepal (2800 m, June), spanning the warm-temperate to cool-temperate montane zone where this jack-in-the-pulpit emerges with the early monsoon.

The plant arises from a depressed-globose tuber, producing a stout pseudostem sheathed by the mottled petiole bases. There is usually a single radiate (pedately compound) leaf bearing numerous narrow, lanceolate leaflets that frequently terminate in long, threadlike drip-tips and are sometimes silvery-banded. The inflorescence is a spadix enclosed by a green to purplish, white-striped spathe whose limb arches forward; the spadix appendage is slender and elongate. Plants are typically dioecious, sex expression varying with tuber size. The fruit is a dense cylindrical infructescence of red berries borne on the persistent spadix.

A member of the species-rich genus Arisaema, this taxon belongs to the radiate-leaved Sino-Himalayan group and is prized in horticulture for its striking foliage. Sex change linked to plant vigour is an ecological hallmark of the genus, and the showy berries are bird-dispersed. The species is common and adaptable, not of conservation concern, though wild tubers are locally harvested for traditional medicine.

Author: Schott · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, Gusman & Gusman The Genus Arisaema