Lovely images again. Stewart listed Bergenia himalaica (syn. B.ciliata var. ligulata, B.ligulata) as common & gregarious on shady cliffs @ 1800-3000m in Kashmir.
He mentioned B.ciliata var. ciliata as only recorded from Hazara and Kagan Valley. There has clearly been confusion between these similar taxa. Ghazanfar in Saxifragaceae (Flora of Pakistan, 1977) recognised only 2 species in Pakistan: B.stracheyi and B.ciliata, splitting the latter into forma ciliata and forma ligulata on the basis of the hirsute leaves of the former (though sometimes glabrous upper surface).. She considered forma ciliata as very common on rocks in and around the Murree area. *Nowadays, B.ciliata forma ligulata (or B.himalaica as Stewart knew it) is Bergenia pacumbis. I think the plant photographed by Ashwini is this rather than what is now the separate B.ciliata (the bottom image just shows the under surface of a leaf which is shiny, not hirsute) - though I think there has been confusion between some forms of both.* *The plant used medicinally is mainly or perhaps exclusively Bergenia pacumbis incl. the specimens I saw being cultivated in the Medicinal Plants Section of the Nehru Botanical Garden, Srinagar, Kashmir.* On Monday, March 28, 2016 at 3:43:29 AM UTC+1, ashwini wrote: > Yesterday I accompanied a friend and my daughter for a walk in the > mountains. We walked mainly along the south facing slopes at an average > altitude of about 1850m before walking down to 1800m for a tea near a small > mountain stream. Along the way I saw my first Bergenia. The first plant I > saw was growing out of a stone wall with small flowers and young round > leaves. Farther into our walk, I saw another cluster with larger flowers > and much larger leaves. Here are some photographs. Please advise if I have > misidentified the plant. > > *Bergenia ciliata*—Hairy Bergenia > Above Mcleodganj, Dharamshala, HP > 1800m > 27 March 2016 > > Thanks. > Ashwini > > > -- 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.
