I agree that it has similarities to what was Potentilla argyrophylla but I
suspect it MIGHTbe another taxon.
As things stand best just to have it as Potentilla sp.
Potentilla is a more complicated genus that appreciated.
There are e.g. 33 species of Potentilla recorded by Dickore & Klimes (2005)
from Ladakhnot to mention 7 sub-specific taxa and a hybrid.
MORE than a dozen of which I had not heard of before! They listed BOTH
P.atrosanguinea andP.argyrophylla. My own informal check-list of Ladakh flora
begun in the 1980s only had 14 species!!
It is clear that I need to spend some time familiarising myself with these
additional species BEFORE I can MEANINGFULLY examine the images from Spiti - it
is likely that a number of these unfamiliar species fromLadakh may well occur
in Spiti as well. There is also the distinct possibility that other species
have beenrecognised/recorded from Spiti in the past 10-20 years, which were not
known previously. So oneMUST NOT only consider species known/recognised IN THE
PAST.
Thus, until we have a specialist in Potentilla or at least someone who has
scrutinised ALL knownspecies from this region that a sound identification of
the plant mistakenly thought to be P.eriocarpa, can RELIABLYarrived at. It is
always much easier to say what a plant is not, than be confident as to what it
is.
In the mean-time, members should know a little about Potentilla argyrophylla
Wall. ex Lehm.
Stewart recorded this particularly var. lecochroa usually as a size smaller and
more common at higheraltitudes incl. Ladakh and Kashmir to 4500m.
He also recognised P.atrosanguinea Lodd. - not very common in Kashmir. He
separated var. cataclines -which he recorded from parts of Ladakh @ 3000-3900m.
He thought this taxon was analogous to P.argyrophylla var. lecochroa but the
flowers were carmine or reddish, not as dark as P.atrosanguinea -he felt may be
a hybrid.
Whereas Flowers of the Himalaya relegated P.argyrophylla to a synonym of
P.atrosanguinea - which followedthe assessment of Potentilla by H,Ohashi in
'Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal' (which referred to
J.Sokak'sTaxonomy of Phytogeography of Potentilla in 1970.
I have seen what I understand to be P.atrosanguinea in H.P. incl. on the
Rohtang. I have seen what I understood to be P.argyrophylla in Ladakh. I
consider them to be distinct taxa but leave it to full-time taxonomists to
decide a what level -species, subspecies, varieties....
As for Flora of Lahaul-Spiti -this lists MANY fewer species of Potentilla. The
authors (unfortunately there is a misspelling hereP.atrisanguinea) record
P.atrosanguinea var. atrosanguinea as common in alpine meadows & glacial
moraines at Maran Pass,Spiti; P.atrosanguinea var. argyrophylla as common in
alpine meadows and glacial moraines at Khoksar - I suspect they mayhave
misidentified this, mistaking what was a different species.
They distinguish on the basis of red-purple flowers cf. yellow flowers. What
about specimens with orange flowers? It would beno surprise to find there are
actually 10 (or a larger number) MORE species of Potentilla in Lahaul-Spiti
than this Flora records....
Best Wishes,
Chris Chadwell
81 Parlaunt Road
SLOUGH
SL3 8BE
UK
www.shpa.org.uk
From: J.M. Garg <[email protected]>
To: efloraofindia <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]; Satish Phadke <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 1 February 2017, 13:19
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: [efloraofindia:86430] Rosaceae week : Potentilla eriocarpa
Spiti
Thanks, Sekar ji.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: chandra sekar
Date: 1 February 2017 at 18:23
Subject: Re: Fwd: [efloraofindia:86430] Rosaceae week : Potentilla eriocarpa
Spiti
To: [email protected]
Please check with Potentilla argyrophylla...?
On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 18:06:32 +0530 "J.M. Garg" wrote
>
Forwarding again for Id assistance please.
Some earlier relevant feedback:
Yes it tallies with P. eriocarpa, especially the close ups - from Singh ji
Sorry this looks absolutely nothing like P.eriocarpa - which is a
cliff-dwelling species. The foliage is not silky-hairy.Can you say the
altitude it was photographed? There are a number of Potentillas which are
difficult to tell apart. - from Chadwell ji
I draw your attention to the other two posts, correctly identified as
P.eriocarpa incl. https://groups.google.com/ forum/#!topic/indiantreepix/
pCqjehYgfAE.As you will see, these specimens are VERY different to the plants
you photographed and were in the typical habitat.P.eriocarpa is found on wet
cliffs part of the way up the Rohtang. I have some images from there which I
plan to post.-- from Chadwell ji
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Satish Phadke
Date: 7 October 2011 at 14:04
Subject: [efloraofindia:86430] Rosaceae week : Potentilla eriocarpa Spiti
To: indiantreepix
Rosaceae week : Potentilla eriocarpa
This plant was observed in Spiti Himalaya.
I had posted it earlier and was IDed as Potentilla eriocarpa.
Please validate.
--
Dr Satish Phadke
--
With regards,
J.M.Garg
'Creating awareness of Indian
Flora & Fauna'Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia.
For identification,
learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join
our Efloraofindia
Google e-group (largest
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more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies,
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free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.
Also author of 'A
Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'.
Dr. K. Chandra Sekar
Scientist-D
G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable
Development,
(An Autonomous Institute of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change,
Govt. of India)
Kosi - Katarmal,
Almora - 263 643
Uttarakhand, India
--
With regards,
J.M.Garg'Creating awareness of IndianFlora & Fauna'Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow
Awards 2014 for efloraofindia.
For identification,learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please
visit/ joinour EfloraofindiaGoogle e-group (largestin the world- around 2700
members & 2,40,000 messages on 31.3.16) orEfloraofindia website (with a species
database of more than11,000 species & 2,20,000 images). The whole world uses my
Image Resource of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of
Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can
also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each
image.Also author of 'APhotoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of
India'.
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