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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
It took me a year, but I finally got this video together showing most of the alpine flowers I saw last year in Sichuan. All the plants featured here are from 3400 - 4100 meters elevation (11,050 -13,325 feet). These were taken at the beginning of the monsoon season in late June, 2013, about two weeks before the region was hit by record breaking rains and flooding. Can you say, "by the skin of my teeth"? Amazing place.
Not exactly exotic, but there are some nice Meconopsis in there. Yaks, too.
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Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:37 pm |
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MauriceEpitree
Joined: Wed May 11, 2011 12:14 am Posts: 689 Location: Te Aroha, Waikato, North Island, New Zealand
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Great diversity. Thanks for the look around Tom. Maurice.
_________________ http://www.epiphytetree.com/
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Sun Jul 13, 2014 1:39 am |
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themes
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:42 am Posts: 2148 Location: birmingham, UK
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Thanks Tom.
_________________ Regards,
Mo
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Sun Jul 13, 2014 1:45 am |
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philinsydney
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:58 am Posts: 1099
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Loved it! A lot of those Laurasian plants we don't have here, but there is one species of gentian in the Australian Alps and a few buttercups and daisies. The mountain scenery is wonderful too. Although very high, that mountain is much shorter than Sichuan's highest peak Minya Konka.
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Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:33 am |
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Nick Macer
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:42 pm Posts: 1284 Location: Gloucestershire, UK
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Good stuff Tom. Thanks for sharing.
_________________ Purveyor of good things
www.panglobalplants.com
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Sun Jul 13, 2014 12:27 pm |
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Eduard O
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:46 pm Posts: 1196 Location: Maastricht Netherlands
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Nice shots Tom, I enjoyed it too Gr. Eduard.
_________________ 2021 min. -09.1ºC --- max. 33.2ºC 2022 min. -09.0ºC --- max. 39.7ºC
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Sun Jul 13, 2014 12:48 pm |
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Steven
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:02 pm Posts: 2486
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Thanks for sharing, Tom!
That meadow with various Meconopsis sp. at the end of the video was surely a site to behold!!!
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Sun Jul 13, 2014 5:54 pm |
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Kev Spence
Site Admin
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:59 pm Posts: 10902 Location: Loughborough, Leics, central UK
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
OH WOW what a fab video Tom it must have been amazing to see those treasures growing all round. Meconopsis punicea I have grown many years ago but the size of the red handkerchief sized petals was unbelievable compared to my attempt. I like the look of the Ponerorchis schlecteri along with Amitostigma monanthum and growing at 4000 Mts alt indicates a possibility in most gardens in a raised well drained bed perhaps...oh yes I have one of those. The last 22 secs were awe inspiring Jackie and myself just looked at each other in disbelief what a sight to behold you are a very lucky man to have viewed those plants first hand. BTW were the Meconopsis in the last shot cordoned off from invading Yak's as the area just looked so pristine. Many thanks for putting the video together and many more for posting on GOTE this is what gets the punters coming back for more.
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 7:49 pm |
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Stan
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:52 pm Posts: 10687 Location: Hayward- S.F. Bay area Ca.
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
I watched it all the other day. The plant that covered in a silver hemisphere- that's a wish list. It did remind me of the bay area in February. I even watched the vid of the Five Finger lake in China..wow,crystal clear waters. Like a paradise..except for winters.
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:04 pm |
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PeteFree
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 2:25 pm Posts: 1139 Location: Suffolk, UK
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Fantastic video, Tom. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Wonderful to see some of those gems in habitat. I did grow Meconopsis puniceus once, briefly. I was really interested to see the Pedicularis too. We have a UK native representative of this genus, rejoicing in the common name of 'lousewort', a pretty little thing, but not at all showy like the ones in your video. Pete
_________________ www.peterjcross.co.uk
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:56 pm |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Glad you all enjoyed it.
Phil - much above 5000 meters and it is kind of pointless to try to botanize since you'll be mostly staring at bare rock. The bulk of the orchids were at 3500 meters and lower, and best alpine flower meadows were right around 4000 meters. At Xueshanliang I climbed up to perhaps 4200 meters and maybe another 500 meters up there were just barren rock mountains.
Kev - There were a number of orchids that would be fun to grow, though I'm not sure the open garden would be the best place since they are so tiny. Members of Ponerorchis, Amitostigma, Habenaria, and Galearis in particular were just amazing to see - in some places we saw fields of them. Perhaps if you had a nice, very protected rock garden they would be OK, but man are these plants slug bait!
The Meconopsis colony was not in a protected area though it was closer to the highway and next to a shear drop-off, so probably fewer yaks go over there. Having said that, their poop was everywhere. The greatest diversity of plants was around rock outcroppings and rhododendron patches.
Stan - well put, looks like paradise, but it isn't. Summers are wet and cool, sometimes even cold at night. Winters are odd, "warm" during the day (around 4-7 degrees C) and cold at night (right around -10 C). We were there at the beginning of the summer monsoon and it rained virtually everyday, though some days had a lot of sun. Still, you never knew when clouds would roll and the skies open.
Pete - the number of Pedicularis we saw was amazing. I didn't bother with most of them, though there was one person on the tour who had a love affair with this genus. More times than I can remember we'd be buzzing down the highway and he'd yell "stop the bus, I just saw a huge colony of Pedicularis blah-blah-blah!" We must have seen somewhere around 40 species during the tour. My favorites grew at lower altitudes and were bigger plants - P. torta and P. davidii come to mind.
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Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:39 pm |
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Alexander
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:55 pm Posts: 3344 Location: Leidschendam, The Netherlands. (52 N latitude)
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Very nice Alpine flora in that area. Its still on my list of must places to visit. But for those Alpines you have to go in our summer. I wander if the origin of our Holarctic temperate flora is from that part of the World. If I look in the Floa of China for a genus like for example Parnassia you get arround 60 species there. In Europe only one. And that is with many plants the case.
Alexander
_________________ Living to close to the arctic circle!
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Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:18 am |
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Fukuoka Scott
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2013 2:32 pm Posts: 958 Location: Fukuoka, Japan
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
What a stunning place. Is this from last summer? Ahhh how I envy your travels, Tom! But we'll be doing the Alpine Route, Kamikochi, and climbing Mt Fuji in a couple of weeks' time so that should be a nice substitute for exotic foreign lands! (Japan stopped being exotic for me ages ago)
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Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:32 am |
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Charles Wychgel
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:09 pm Posts: 757 Location: Algarve/Portugal
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
thanks Tom splendid as usual
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8º 50' 13 59" W
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Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:25 am |
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Tom Velardi
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:20 pm Posts: 4337 Location: Kyushu, Southern Japan (33.607N latitude)
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Re: Alpine flowers of Sichuan, China - Snow Mountain Pass
Alexander, you may be right. The diversity of various genera is really astounding. According to efloras, here's a few stats with the first number being how many species found in China, and the one in parenthesis being the endemic species. Amazing...
Pedicularis 352 (271) Astragalus 401 (221) Primula ~300 Corydalis 357 (262) Rhododendron 571 (409) Aster 123 (82) Meconopsis 43 (23) Lilium 55 (35) Cypripedium 36 (25)
And the list goes on. In the case of Cypripedium the number of species endemic to China is about half the world total, showing an ancestral origin to be sure. Many species there are confined to the western mountains with highly relic populations.
Anyway, fascinating place.
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Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:40 pm |
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