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T oshio Y oshida and C hrisTopher G reY -W ilson describe a new Meconopsis species rom west Bhutan which has long

been known under a di erent name

P i c t u r e c r e

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T he distinctive members

o subgenus Discogyneareamongst the most

ascinating and beauti ul o all

Meconopsis. With their attractive,rather dense, lea rosettes andracemes o fowers ranging in colour

rom yellow to blue, purple andcrimson, they are plants o thehigher zones o the Himalaya.Undoubtedly, they would make eye-catching plants or the rock gardenor choice specimens or alpine houseculture. However, seed is rarely available and, being monocarpic,the species are tricky to keep incultivation i seed ails to beproduced.

Subgenus D gySubgenus Discogyneconsists, aspresently de ned, o six species allnative to the northern Himalaya andTibetan hinterland, reaching northas ar as the Lhasa region. They are

all monocarpic herbs orming a solitary rosette o leaves that buildsup over a number o years untilfowering takes place. All the specieso the subgenus bear barbellate hairs(so t, nely barbed bristles). Thefowers are borne in simple racemes,o which only the lowermost arebracteate, and generally have 4,sometimes 56 (exceptionally 8),petals. The single most distinctive

eature o the subgenus is thepresence o a fattened, toothed orlobed, o ten reddish or purplish, disk

The new species, Meconopsis bhutanica ,up to now confused with M. discigera

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that sits immediately on top o theruit capsule. This disk is not like the

stylar disk ound in the genus Papaver , but is derived rom anexpansion o the base o the style; it

is not ound in any other members o the Papaveraceae.

Discovery of the new speciesOne o the authors (Yoshida)explored the Nepalese side o theKangchenjunga Himal during twomonths in the summer o 1998. Heobserved many plants o pale-yellow-fowered M. discigeragrowing onrock-ledges or among moraineboulders beside the Yalung Glacier,the glacier that fows southwest romthe main peak o MountKangchenjunga.

Meconopsis discigerawas rstdescribed rom plants collected onGucha La (Gocha La), today a well-known trekking destination on theSikkim side o the Kangchenjunga Himal. Although it has long sincebeen a mystery as to the fowercolour o the type specimens, it isnow generally agreed that they wouldhave had yellow petals. This isprimarily because Gucha La islocated just 10km east o the site where pale-yellow-fowered plants grow along the Yalung Glacier ineast Nepal; both areas share a common climate and the plants are very similar in overall morphological

characters.Taking pictures o these plantsbeside the Yalung Glacier proved tobe quite laborious work because the valley was covered all day in mist andrain cloud carried by the southwestmonsoon, making photography very tricky. However, it does emphasizethe conditions in which these plantshave evolved, that o dry springs andautumns, very wet summers and winters blanketed in a protectivelayer o snow. In addition, many o the plants grew at inaccessible

heights on perpendicular rock walls.By this time, late July, the petals had

allen rom the upper fowers and thedark red ruit disks characteristic o this and related species were very

conspicuous.Two years later in early July,Yoshida explored the Jaljale andLumbasamba Himals to the west o the Kangchenjunga massi in eastNepal. Here he came upon amiliarplants o M. discigerawith their resh,pale-yellow fowers, scattered onstony alpine slopes close to UmbakLa on the NepalTibet border: theseplants looked very similar to those o Kangchenjunga Himal in mostrespects.

In mid August 1995, Yoshida ollowed the Chomolhari

(Jhomolhari) Trek in west Bhutanas a leader o a trek and ound plantso Meconopsisbelonging to subgenus Discogynewith a typical dark redstylar appendage but with some

allen blue-purple petals. Theseplants were ound in the vicinity o Tso Phu lake growing on unstablescrees, together with some plantso the bristly M. horridulaaggregate.The climate around Tso Phu appearsto be drier and sunnier than thato Yalung Glacier or Umbak La.Grierson & Long (1984) allocatedearlier collections o these blue-purple-fowered plants to M. discigera, ollowing the revision

o the species by Taylor (1934),despite the di erence in fowercolour. Di erences in ruit capsuleshape and size were also noted.

One o members o the trekrevisited the area around Tso Phu in July the ollowing year and tookphotos o the plants in fower. Sincethen, many other trekkers have

ollowed the Chomolhari Trekobserving en route this strange andattractive blue poppy. Numerousphotographs o this charmingspecies are now available, although

sadly, little additional herbariummaterial. By examining many photoso the plants taken by trekkers, moredi erences between those o eastNepal and west Bhutan were

recognized. This has been in spiteo the current restriction on thecollection o plant material in Bhutan.

Related speciesOne o the authors (Grey-Wilson)revised subgenus Discogynein 2006.This was the rst attempt sinceTaylor (1934) who enumerated only two species within the subgenus: M. discigeraand the Tibetan M. torquata. During his travels in eastNepal in 1979, Grey-Wilson had a chance to observe M. discigerainearly ruit above Topke Gola, whereit is locally common in boulder eldsand on moraines. In the subgenus,Grey-Wilson (2006) included M. pinnatifda( ound on both sideso the Nepal-Tibet border zone) andtwo new species that he described, M. simikotensis( rom west Nepal) and M. tibetica. The latter was based onplants collected and photographedby the Alpine Garden Society trek toKangshung, a northeastern valley o Mount Everest (Chomolungma), in2005. However, at the time o hisrevision Grey-Wilson did not haveenough material o either the easternNepalese or Bhutanese plants o the M. discigeraaggregate to distinguish

these two populations de nitively.In addition to these, a urtherspecies, M. manasluensis, was recently described rom the Manaslu regiono central Nepal (Egan 2011). Thishas entire leaves, but also scarletfowers borne uniquely in the subgenuson multiple, ew-fowered racemes.

A distinct speciesWe have examined the detailso the Bhutanese plants recently photographed by Japanese andEuropean tourists and compared

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them with Nepalese plants o M. discigera. We conclude that thetwo populations are distinguishableas di erent species, naming theBhutanese plants with blue-purplefowers M. bhutanica(see panelabove).

Historical collections Meconopsis bhutanicawas rstcollected by Roland E Cooper on27 July 1914 in fower (Cooper 1990)and on 28 September in ruit (Cooper2944), near the head o Thimpu Chuabove Parshong (Barshong) at analtitude o 4,000m. These specimens

were, however, ill-preserved and itproved very di cult to examine thedetails o fowers and leaves.

The amous our-member Britishteam that explored Bhutan in 1949(Frank Ludlow, George & Betty Sherri and JH Hicks) collected thespecies our times at di erent stages.

M a a Tosh. Yoshida & Grey-Wilson,sp. nov.Meconopsidis discigerae D. Prain

a nis sed foribus purpureo-azureis,patelli ormibus vel cyathi ormibus,capsulisque obconice cylindricisdi ert.Type: West Bhutan, Paro Chu,Kumathang, oot o Pangte La (Bhonte La), 3,8004,000m, endo June 1949, Ludlow, Sherri & Hicks 17471(holotype BM, isotypesBM).[ M. discigerasensu Taylor, pro parte inTaylor (1934) p108].

Similar to M. discigera, but di ersrom the latter in the blue-purple,

not pale yellow, dish- or cup-shaped, not bell-shaped, fowers,and also in the obconic-cylindric,not barrel-shaped, ruit capsule.

Plant monocarpic, 2250cm tall infower, to 65cm tall in ruit, covered

or the most part by 37mm long, whitish or awn-coloured barbellatehairs, usually with a elted mat o old leaves orming a thick wadge atthe base o the living lea rosette,especially in older plants which may be a number o years old be orefowering, these generally beset with sti , awn-coloured hairs.Taproot elongate, 1230cm longor more, 712mm diameter at the

top, gradually narrowed to the tip.Ste erect, usually weakly ridged,720mm diameter at the base, yellowish green, sometimessu used with red-purple.Leaves

mostly clustered at or near the base,the cauline leaves ew, gradually reduced in size upwards; the

lowermost leaves spreading tosomewhat recurved, the middle andupper leaves ascending to erect;lamina oblanceolate, 310cm long,(0.8)1.23.1cm wide, with a cuneate base ormed by theattenuate lamina running down thepetiole, the apex subacute toobtuse, the margin with (3)57coarse, somewhat oblique, subobtuseteeth towards the apex, the upper-sur ace rather pale or yellowish green, somewhat rugose withdepressed lateral-veins, the lowersur ace paler; petioles o lowermostleaves to 8cm long, narrowly winged, expanded towards the baseand hal -sheathing.Bracts only present at the lowermost fowers,sessile, lea -like but smaller, elliptic-oblong, with a broad, somewhatdecurrent base and an entire totrilobed apex. In orescence racemose, ebracteate except or thelowermost fowers, bearing 619,saucer- to cup-shaped, hal -nodding, but occasionally erect(terminal fower) fowers. Buds oval, nodding to hal -nodding;sepals 1322mm long, patent-bristly, greenish, o ten su used with red-purple. Pedicels 12

32mm long in fower, elongating to3092mm long in ruit.Petals 4,rarely 5 in the terminal fower, blue-purple, occasionally reddish purple;broad-ovate to orbicular, 40

60mm long, 3055mm wide, theapex subobtuse to rounded, themargin fat, not recurved, entire or

somewhat erose. Sta ens numerous, about one quarter thelength o the petals, with lamentssimilar in colour to, but darkerthan, the petals; anthers yellow toorange-yellow, browning with age.Ovary oblong-ovoidal, pale green,densely covered with erecto-appressed bristles; style 24mmlong, broadening at the base into anovary-wide dark purple, somewhatlobed disk; stigma short-clavate,23.5mm long, pale green to purple,equal to or slightly exceedingbeyond the boss o anthers.Fruitcapsule obconic-cylindric, 18 26mm long, 1216mm diameter,surmounted by the disc-likeappendage with spreading, toothedmargin, 1522mm diameter.

Flowering in late June and July,occasionally later. Habitat isunstable scree slopes, talus slopes,moraines and streamside gravels at valley heads, at altitudes o 3,800 4,400m. Known only rom theregion around the northern watershed between the catchmentso the two rivers Paro Chu andThimpu Chu in west Bhutan.

Specimens examined: RE Cooper 1990 (BM, E), 2944 (BM, E);

PC Gardner 672(BM); Ludlow,Sherri & Hicks 16279(BM),16399 (BM); 17455 (BM, E),17456 (BM), 17471 (BM, E); Bowes-Lyon 15045 (E).

D S RIPTIO

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In mid May specimens were collectedprior to fowering (L, S & H 16279)on the south slope o Pangte La (Bhonte La on recent maps, and now on the well-trodden ChomolhariTrek) at 4,000m. They thencollected pre-fowering specimens atthe end o May (L, S & H 16399) on

the south slope o Yale La, probably the same area as the Coopercollections re erred to above. They then collected fowering specimensat the end o June (L, S & H 17471)on the north side o Pangte La nearthe Tso Phu. And nally, specimens with mature ruit were collected in

mid October (L, S & H 17455), alsorom the north side o Pangte La.

Original records of M. d g raThe rst description o M. discigera

(Prain 1906) was based on ruitingspecimens collected in 1905 by GH Cave on Gucha La in west Sikkim.Similar plants, this time with fowers, were collected rom the type locality by a native collector on behal o Caveincluding those in 1913 (Cave 6628),although the petals have been removed

rom these specimens and there is norecord o the colour. Prain (1907)revised his original description andadded that the fowers were yellow;however, he subsequently correctedthe colour to blue (Prain 1923).Taylor (1934) ollowed Prains lastdescription and excluded yellow romthe fower colour o the species,recording them as dark-crimson,red, purple, or pale-blue. This clearly resulted rom a mix up with theBhutanese material that had come tolight in the intervening years.

The name o the type locality Gucha La was corrected to Guicha La on the Cave 6628 specimen,but it is recorded as Gocha La onrecently published maps o the region.Gocha La is located at the heado Onglaktang Glacier, southeasto the main peak o MountKangchenjunga. The altitude o the type locality was recorded as

11,00012,000 t on the originaltype specimens, but the Cave 6628specimen collected at the samelocality in 1913 has a record o 15,000 t. Yoshida measured analtitude o 4,500m (14,764 t) atthe oot o Gocha La beside the glacier, without nding any plantso M. discigerathere in the summero 1995. In reality we have no reliablerecords o the fower colour o theplants collected at the type location,indeed plants may no longer exist atthat particular locality.

The basal leaves of Meconopsis bhutanica T i m

L e v e r

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Egan, P (2011) Meconopsis autumnalisand M. manasluensis( Papaveraceae ),two new species o Himalayan poppy endemic to central Nepal withsympatric congeners. Phytotaxa20:4756Fletcher, HR (1975) A Quest for Flowers. Edinburgh University Press,EdinburghGrey-Wilson, C (2000) Poppies.Revised edition. BT Bats ord, LondonGrey-Wilson, C (2006) A new Meconopsisrom Tibet.The AlpineGardener 74: 212225

Grierson, AJC & Long, DG (1984) Flora of Bhutan. Vol. 1. Royal BotanicGarden, EdinburghLancaster, R (1995) A Plantsman in Nepal . Revised edition. The AntiqueCollectors Club, Su olkOhba, H & Akiyama, S(1992)The Alpine Flora of the Jaljale Himal, East Nepal.University Museum, University o Tokyo, TokyoPrain, D (1906) A review o the genera MeconopsisandCathcartia. Ann. Bot. 20: 323410Prain, D (1907) New garden plants o

the year 1906. Bull. Misc. Inf. Kew,Appendix: 5580Prain, D (1923) Meconopsis.Country Lifeliv: 111Taylor, G (1934) An Account of theGenus Meconopsis.New Flora and Silva Ltd, LondonYoshida, T (2005) Himalayan Plants Illustrated.Yama-kei Publishers, TokyoYoshida, T (2011) Endemism in theSino-Himalaya.The Alpine Gardener 79:181190

R F R S

Meconopsis bhutanica (left) andM. discigera (right). Apart from the ower colour, note the difference in leaf toothing

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We are grate ul to the ollowing orproviding valuable eld data andallowing us access to theirphotographs: Pro Hilary Birks, Pro

John Birks, Eiko Chiba, Tim Lever,Rosie Steele, Minoru Tomiyama,Shun Umezawa and Martin Walsh.

A k OWL DGm TS

Meconopsis bhutanica Meconopsis discigeraPetal colour blue-purple pale yellow Petal shape broad-ovate to orbicular; apex subobtuse to obovate to orbicular; apex rounded to truncate;

rounded; margin fat, entire to slightly erose margin recurved in the upper third, strongly eroseFlower shape dish- to cup-shaped broadly bowl-shaped

Flower posture hal -nodding, occasionally the nodding to hal -noddingterminal one erect

Fruit capsule obconic-cylindric broadly to narrowly barrel-shaped

Stigma short-clavate, 23.5mm long, almost clavate, 3.57mm long, elongating to 12mm longunchanged a ter fowering and somewhat ree a ter fowering

Disk-like appendage dark purple rom the opening o the fower, pale green or yellowish at rst, dark-red a terof style broader than ruit capsule in diameter fowering, similar to or slightly larger than ruit

capsule in diameter

Stamen length about a quarter o the petal length about a th o the petal lengthAnther colour yellow to orange-yellow dull orange to brownish yellow Leaf shape usually 57-toothed toward apex, with usually 3-toothed at apex, with narrowly

broadly winged petioles winged petiolesLeaf posture ascending to erect, except basal ones spreading to ascending

Upper surface pale or yellowish green, somewhat rugose deep green, fat, the secondary veins obscureof leaves with depressed secondary veins Stem usually weakly ridged weakly to strongly ridged

Hairs usually whitish, shorter, less dense usually yellowish, longer, denserBasal leaf mat densely matted at the base, but never very densely matted at the base, to 10cm or more

thick, or scarcely present at all in thicknessHabitat unstable scree slopes, streamside gravels rock ledges, among boulders, on stable stony

in valley heads; avouring drier conditions, slopes o high alpine hills covered with rocks ao ten shrouded in dri ting mists, but sometimes sandy earth; avouring wetter conditions,exposed to strong summer sunshine shrouded in dri ting summer mists most o the da

TH mAI HARA T RISTI S S PARATI G Meconopsis bhut nic FROm M. Disci e

Horticultural potential From a horticultural point o view,members o subgenus Discogynehave

great potential. However, like somany high Himalayan alpines they require exacting conditions incultivation. Primarily they need coolmoist summers and dry winters. In

the wild, plants are protected undera deep layer o snow during wintermonths, while in summer the

atmosphere is kept moist by themonsoon which suppressestemperatures, especially at altitude.

Although seed o M. discigera,and incidentally probably also M. bhutanica, has been introduced ona number o occasions over the years,plants have not persisted incultivation or any length o time.Both species are monocarpic andtake several years to reach foweringmaturity. Seed is set only under idealconditions, and plants can be easily lost i they ail to set seed i one

un avourable season ollows another.However, gardeners nd these

types o plants a challenge and will

try to per ect their cultivation whenever seed is available. Many Himalayan Primulaand Gentiana species are equally demanding. Whatis certain is that these high altitudespecies o Meconopsisare among themost beauti ul alpines to be oundanywhere in the world.

t oshio Y oshida is a photographer and amateurbotanist based in Chiba, Japanc hristopher G reY -W ilson isa botanist, horticulturist and writer