Meconopsis
Meconopsis aculeata Royle (Jammu & Kashmir (Zanskar, Kashmir), India (Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh), Pakistan (Hazara), SW-Tibet as per Catalogue of Life)
Meconopsis grandis Prain (Bhutan, Nepal, SC-Tibet, Sikkim, India (Arunachal Pradesh) as per Catalogue of Life)
Meconopsis horridula Hook. f. & Thomson (China (W-Gansu, Qinghai, W-Sichuan), Tibet, Bhutan (Kachin, Sagaing), Nepal, Sikkim, Myanmar [Burma], India (Arunachal Pradesh) as per Catalogue of Life) Meconopsis latifolia (Prain) Prain (Jammu & Kashmir (Kashmir) as per Catalogue of Life) Meconopsis merakensis var. albolutea T. Yoshida, R. Yangzom & D. G. Long (India, Western Arunachal Pradesh, region around Orka La and Bhangajang, Milakatong La in Tawang district, Mago district; eastern Bhutan, Sakten region of Tashigang district; 3,800 –4,500m in elevation as per DANCING BUTTERFLIES OF THE EAST HIMALAYAS – NEW MECONOPSIS SPECIES FROM EAST BHUTAN, ARUNACHAL PRADESH AND SOUTH TIBET)
Meconopsis paniculata (D. Don) Prain (India (Uttar Pradesh, Darjeeling, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal), Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, N-Burma, S-Tibet as per Catalogue of Life) (As per efi thread: A purple stigma, and flowers produced in panicles are the most apparent characters which differentiate it (Meconopsis paniculata) from the closely related species M. autumnalis and M. robusta, respectively) Meconopsis villosa (Hook.f.) G.Taylor (E-Nepal, India (Darjeeling), Sikkim, Bhutan as per Catalogue of Life) .
DANCING BUTTERFLIES OF THE EAST HIMALAYAS – NEW MECONOPSIS SPECIES FROM EAST BHUTAN, ARUNACHAL PRADESH AND SOUTH TIBET The Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, No. 14- Toshio Yoshida, Rinchen Yangzom & David Long (2017):
Abstract: The region from eastern Bhutan to Arunachal Pradesh of India and the adjacent south-eastern Tibet and northern Myanmar seems to be one of the last frontiers not only for Meconopsis hunting but also for other botanical exploration. Although there remain political difficulties for foreigners to approach the unsettled border between India and China, including the famous Tsari valley with its prominently rich flora, which was visited by Frank Ludlow, George Sherriff, Frank Kingdon-Ward and a few other plant hunters before 1950, some botanical and horticultural treasures in this region have gradually been revealed to recent travellers. As a result of examining the photographs taken by these travellers and our own botanical field research in eastern Bhutan in 2014, accompanied by subsequent herbarium studies, two species new to science are described. The first, from eastern Bhutan and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, has long been cultivated under the names M. grandis or M. grandis GS600, and has recently been described as M. grandis subsp. orientalis (Grey-Wilson, 2010). It is the national flower of Bhutan. However, the type of M. grandis from Sikkim belongs to a species quite distinct from the eastern populations and the latter is now described as a new species, Meconopsis gakyidiana. The second novelty, Meconopsis merakensis, is newly described from eastern Bhutan and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh. In the past this species was confused with the closely allied M. prainiana. The two species are isolated geographically, M. prainiana being found only much further to the north-east, in south-eastern Tibet, including the Tsari valley. The title of this article is based on a comparison made by Frank Kingdon-Ward of Meconopsis flowers with butterflies in Tibet (see below).
Key to Meconopsis gakyidiana and related species:
1a. Plant often forming a loose tuft with short or long rhizomes, taller in stature (to 120cm tall), with long stems; stem leaves more or less regularly alternate along long stems; lamina wider, with betony-like serration (remotely and regularly toothed with obliquely wedge-shaped sinus); bracts and upper leaves half clasping; fruit capsules shorter and thicker, to 5cm long, glabrescent or densely hairy …. 2 2a. Rhizomes occasionally elongate in marshy habitats. Fruit capsules glabrescent; style longer, 5–10mm long; bracts only occasionally pseudo-whorled ………. M. betonicifolia 2b. Rhizomes usually short. Fruit capsules densely hairy; style shorter, less than 5mm long; bracts usually pseudo-whorled ……. 3 3a. Flowers widely open during fine weather, petals slightly concave, flower colour not changing, pale to deep blue, thecae yellow to dull orange, style often obsolete, less than 4mm long; leaves bluish-green ………. M. baileyi 3b. Flowers bowl-shaped or hemispherical even during fine weather, petals distinctly concave, flower colour usually changing from purple to blue, often pale blue tinged with purple, rarely dark red, thecae bright orange, style 1–5mm long; leaves yellowish-green …….. M. gakyidiana (Eastern Bhutan, western Arunachal Pradesh of India, southern Xizang (Tibet) of China; 3,700–4,300m in elevation) 1b. Plant often forming a substantial clump with a compact base, lower in stature (to 70cm tall), semi-scapose with short stems and erect, long and thick pedicels; leaves usually clustered near the base, occasionally regularly alternate along stem and in this case leaves are usually narrow and erect along the stem; lamina narrower, sub-entire or coarsely toothed; bracts not clasping; fruit capsules longer and narrower, to 7cm long, glabrescent ……. M. grandis Key to Meconopsis prainiana and M. merakensis and their varieties:
1a. Fruit capsules ellipsoid, 1.5–2.5cm long; flowers usually half-nodding, widely opened and dish-shaped during fine weather; stems quite densely covered with patent spiny hairs ……….. 2 (M. prainiana) 2a. Petals pale blue to purple ……. M. prainiana var. prainiana (China (Xizang [south-east Tibet]): Temo La, Sang La, Nyima La, Nam La, Pab Ri in Tsela Dzong, Mira in Nyang Chu region, Shoga Dzong in Kongbo, Tsari Sama and Chiniung La in Langong, Bimbi La and Chikchar in Tsari) 2b. Petals pale yellow ………………. M. prainiana var. lutea (China (Xizang [south-east Tibet]): Shagam La on the south of Tsari, Mira La in Nyang Chu region) 1b. Fruit capsules sub-cylindrical, 3–3.7cm long; flowers usually deeply nodding, bowlshaped; stems less densely covered with spiny hairs …… 3 (M. merakensis) 3a. Petals bluish or purplish; plant usually growing larger, tip of elongate rachis often gradually narrowed and curved ……….. M. merakensis var. merakensis (East Bhutan: Merak and Sakten regions of Tashigang district. 3,800– 4,500m in elevation) 3b. Petals white or yellow; plant usually growing smaller, tip of rachis rarely curved ……. M. merakensis var. albolutea (India, Western Arunachal Pradesh, region around Orka La and Bhangajang, Milakatong La in Tawang district, Mago district; eastern Bhutan, Sakten region of Tashigang district; 3,800 –4,500m in elevation) .
Debnath & Nayar (1993) have described following species of Meconopsis in India:
Scrutiny of names in The Plant List 2013 indicates one as synonym. Debnath, H.S. and Nayar, M.P. 1993. Papaveraceae. In; Sharma, B.D. & Balakrishnan, N.P. (eds.) Flora of India vol-2, BSI, Calcutta, pp.10-27.
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Meconopsis autumnalis and M. manasluensis (Papaveraceae), two new species of Himalayan poppy endemic to central Nepal with sympatric congeners by PAUL A. EGAN- Phytotaxa 20: 47–56 (2011)
Abstract– Two new species from Nepal, Meconopsis autumnalis and M. manasluensis, are described and illustrated with notes on diagnostic characters used to distinguish them from allied species. Sympatric speciation and the mechanisms to reproductively isolate the new species are discussed. In M. autumnalis, reproductive isolation from the widespread M. paniculata is the result of a shift in flowering phenology, whereas possible mechanisms preventing cross-fertilisation between M. manasluensis and the sympatric species M. pinnatifolia remain unclear.
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Species with description & pictures in Flowers of India as on 11.8.14:
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Meconopsis neglecta G. Taylor (No distribution given in India)
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Meconopsis gracilipes G. Taylor (No distribution given in India)
Meconopsis rebeccae H. S. Debnath & Nayar (No distribution given)
Meconopsis regia G. Taylor (No distribution given in India)
Meconopsis taylorii L. H. J. Williams (No distribution given in India)
Meconopsis villosa (Hook. f.) G. Taylor .
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Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: (Except … edited by Peter Hanelt, Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, W. Kilian (2001)- Brief details-
Meconopsis paniculata (D. Don) Prain
Meconopsis wallichii HOOK. syn. of Meconopsis paniculata (D.Don) Prain .
Forest Plants of Eastern India By Amal Bhusan Chaudhuri (1993)- Brief details-
Meconopsis primulina Prain
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Plant diversity hotspots in India: an overview by V. Mudgal, Botanical Survey of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests, 1997 – Nature – 179 pages
Meconopsis grandis Prain ……………..
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Biodiversity and Its Conservation in India By Sharad Singh Negi (1993)-
Meconopsis latifolia (Prain) Prain- Vulnerable- Kashmir .
Megadiversity Conservation: Flora, Fauna and Medicinal Plants of India’s Hot … By AB Chaudhuri, Amal Bhusan Chaudhuri, D. D. Sarkar (2003)-
Meconopsis betonicifolia Franch. .
Key in “Flowers of the Himalaya” goes thus –
Flowers yellow (see also 97)
94. M. paniculata Prain
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FLowers blue, purple red, or rarely white
a) leaves all basal (see also 101, 103)
97, M. discigera Prain
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b) leaves borne on flowering stem as well as basal (see also 97)
i) plants with large overwintering rosettes
100. M. napaulensis DC.
ii) plants without large overwintering rosettes
x) leaves entire, or margin toothed or shallowly lobed
101. M. horridula Hook. f. & Thoms.
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xx) leaves deeply lobed
106. M. aculeata Royle
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Meconopsis (Papaveraceae) : 3 posts by 2 authors.
I have updated eFI (efloraofindia) page on Meconopsis (Pl. click). Attempts have been made to incorporate most of the species available in India & nearby areas with details & keys directly or through links as far as possible. It’s quite possible that there may be some discrepancy in the accepted names & synonyms taken from other links. Species discussed so far in efloraofindia are given at the bottom of the page in the form of links against Subpages. On clicking them one can see all the details. If someone can provide complete list of Indian species with source references it will be wonderful. I have added list of Indian species based on Flora of India. Thanks, … The species at other links match well with this list. .
Meconopsis (Papaveraceae) page with images of species in efloraofindia : 1 post by 1 author. Pl. go through Meconopsis (Papaveraceae) page with images of species in efloraofindia.
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