Microula tibetica

Microula tibetica Benth., Gen. Pl. 2: 853 1876. (syn: Microula benthamii C.B. Clarke; Microula tibetica var. tibetica );

Brassicaceae ?? for ID. Photo taken on Kailash Parikrama route. Height approx 15500 feet. Aug 24, 2016. The quality of image is poor.

This looks to be from Boraginaceae..

… is correct, this is Boraginaceae not Brassicaceae.

I do not have a check-list for this area but do for Ladakh, which has two species recorded of the genus to which this belong: Microula.

Stewart lists M.tibetica from high passes in Ladakh (& Spiti), describing it as having a rosette of elliptic leaves with flowers in the centre.

This genus is not mentioned in ‘Flora of Lahaul-Spiti’ – I imagine the authors did not explore much on the high passes of Spiti nor check the

literature and quite possibly no pressed specimens are found in the herbaria they consulted.

There are excellent images named as Microula tibetica: http://botany.cz/en/microula-tibetica/ which seem to match the photos taken by

Narendra.

Dickore & Klimes also list M. sikkimensis but this species has a completely different habit, so would not be confused (there is a line drawing

in ‘Flowers of the Himalaya’ – interestingly, the give a distribution of W.Nepal to SW China, so the Ladakh record is surprising.

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