The Yunnan Autumn Reconnaissance by Chris Gardner 04/11/2009
Chris and Başak report back from Yunnan’s beautiful autumn-tinted mountains.
We found no less than 28 taxa of Gentianaceae with 13 taxa of Gentiana. The visit to Tianchi Hai was one of the highlights. Here we encountered a mixed population of Gentiana veitchiorum and Gentiana haynaldii and the pretty blue Lomatagonium rotatum. Climbing up into the hills the road was lined almost the whole twenty kilometres by thousands and thousands of powder blue Comastoma pulmonarium. Closer to the lake there were the first deep purple Gentiana delavayi and taller Gentiana atuntsiense, but at the lake itself awaited true beauty. The silvery waters of the lake were backed by fir forests and around the edge were many dwarf rhododendrons among which grew the stunning light blue trumpets of Gentiana arethusae each perfect flower lined with darker blue. One clump contained at least fifty open flowers and as many buds! The big blue flowers glowed with the backlit sunlight, but the autumn glory didn’t end there as the marshy flushes around the lake were full of deep blue Gentiana sino-ornata in a variety of colour forms and markings, together with the pretty palest lilac Lomatogonium forrestii.
High on the Baima Shan we walked through dwarf rhododendron scrub encountering the first of many, many stunning large lilac-purple trumpets of Gentiana georgei, far and away the commonest species at the higher altitudes. We moved onto higher scree and a Golden Eagle sailed overhead as we planned our next move. Ashu had scampered on up further and shouted down that had found THE flower. I walked up to the ridge and there it was, the spectacular inflorescence of Saussurea medusa backed by a superb view of vast areas of raw scree and mountains. We encountered many rosettes of this species during the morning, but relatively few flowers, perhaps suggesting a biennial flowering pattern – next year many be much more productive.
Another highlight was near the village of Wenghai. Pine cone collectors were busy along the lower stretches of the road, which gradually revealed a steady stream of good new plants with first a tall spike of Cimicifuga foetida before we came across a colony of purplish Delphinium ceratophorum growing among some limestone rubble. Exploration of wet meadows produced Gentiana sino-ornata and Gentiana yunnanense, the latter becoming increasingly common as we progressed. There were one or two good inflorescences of Salvia digitaloides as we reached flatter ground at the top of the rise, then a fine clump of Cyananthus longiflorus before we dropped down to the village. Two species of yellow balsam were abundant here and a damp cliff held a wonderful population of Corallodiscus lanuginosus with many plants in full flower, the delicate tubular purple and white blooms on wiry quivering stems. As well as these lovely plants there was a fine tumbling yellow saxifrage and the pretty Arenaria barbata with delicately fringed palest pink flowers. Our return journey also yielded more plants with purplish Gentiana cephalantha hanging from the roadside banks.
Exploring the verdant Gaoligongshan forests produced louseworts, stands of handsome Anemone hupehensis, abundant Impatiens delavayi and a smattering of its blue cousin Impatiens subecalcarata. We were amazed by two magnificent plants of Swertia bimaculata each 1.2 metres tall and almost as wide with large star-like white flowers delicately speckled with black spots. Golden-spectacled Warblers, Great Tit and Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher buzzed about us as we photographed these superb plants. Continuing up we stopped by another promising area with lots of a powder blue Cicerbita together with the deep purple monkshood Aconitum duclouxi and its climbing cousin Aconitum tsaii which was twined around a bamboo stem.
From our Summer tours to this area we knew it to be a scenically stunning region and the Autumn tints, especially of the Sorbus trees, and the gold and green rice terraces, made it quite exceptional in the clear autumnal light. Culturally it is a fascinating region and as far as the flora went, there was a surprising amount in flower, with some incredibly choice species.
Full details on this tour are now available on the Greentours Website – just go to the Alpine Garden Society Tour listings and click on Yunnan….
