Thanks a lot, Chadwell ji. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "C CHADWELL" <[email protected]> Date: 16 Jan 2017 7:20 a.m. Subject: Dactylorhiza hatagirea sensu lato in Bhutan and Eastern Himalaya To: "J.M. Garg" <[email protected]> Cc:
My first visit further East along the Himalaya came in 1990 when I went to Nepal for the first time. I do not remember seeing any terrestrial orchids but did notice a number of epiphytic ones at lower elevation. The first epiphytic orchids I had seen were when I travelled from Srinagar, Kashmir to Jammu then took the train to Pathankot and noticed some in trees in Kangra district en route to Manali. No Dactylorhiza nor Gymnadenia are mentioned in 'Flora of Mustang' but I do not consider this to be complete by any means as I personally know quite a number of species omitted. Enumeration of the Flowering plants of Nepal gives: D.hatagirea a distribution of Pakistan to Bhutan & SE Tibet @ 2800-3960m G.orchidis a distribution of Kashmir to Bhutan & SE Tibet @ 3000-4700m. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of Orchidaceae for Flora of Bhutan (which also covers Sikkim). In the mid-1990s I was a consultant to 'The Royal Government of Bhutan' on 'The Cultivation of Medicinal Plants for Traditional Medicine Project'. Prior to my first visit to Bhutan I was sent a partial list of Himalayan species utilised in Bhutanese Medicine with their equivalent Tibetan name. I immediately noticed some errors within the Latin names, as several of the species on the list were restricted to the 'Western' Himalaya and not known in Bhutan. *As I regularly comment, the geographic distribution of species is seldom checked. I must ENCOURAGE all those* *attempting to identify plants in the Himalaya to check along with checking if the elevation where a specimen has* *been recorded TALLIES with its known altitudinal range. IF it is at a significantly higher or lower elevation, then open* *must investigate further.* In the list, as expected, there was an entry for 'dbang-lag' which had been named as Dactylorhiza hatagirea, however, I wondered if other orchids were collected as well - indeed there was evidence to suggest D.hatagirea was not found much in Bhutan. In another list the 'botanical name' for dbang-lag was given as Gymnadenia crassinervis. This species is, as far as I know, restricted to China (Yunnan & Sichuan), so is likely to be a misidentification. The most likely explanation is that someone looked up the Latin name for dbang-lag in a Chinese reference book. Assuming ALL Dactylorhiza and Gymnadenia have hand-shaped roots then it is likely that ANY from these two genera are collected by doctors of Tibetan Medicine. The actual species will vary from region to region. Gymnadenia orchidis is recorded for Nepal and Bhutan. *I see that the group's orchid specialist expresses uncertainty in distinguishing between D.hatagirea and G.orchidis, when specimens are not in flower. If someone with specialist knowledge struggles, it means other botanists will have done so in the past. Thus either species may have previously been over or under-recorded.* *There is also the issue of whether Dactylorhiza hatagirea is a variable complex or a number of taxa can be separated, as Soo suggested in the past.* *Has any member got a copy of Orchidaceae for Bhutan (or can check a copy in a major botanical library) and see what was said about* *these two 'species' and closely-related ones?* Best Wishes, Chris Chadwell 81 Parlaunt Road SLOUGH SL3 8BE UK www.shpa.org.uk -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
