Yunnan in Autumn

Yunnan has many stunning autumn flowers, in particular its unparalleled Gentians.

Amid the fast-colouring autumnal hues of the Zhongdian Plateau are marvellous displays of Gentiana sino-ornata and stripe-tubed Gentiana veitchiorum smothering acres of marshes and dry slopes respectively. By the alpine Tianchi Lake blooms Gentiana arethusae and on the high turf of the Baima Shan are great spreads of pale blue Gentiana hexaphylla and perhaps the dazzling deep blue Gentiana emergens. Indeed we’ll see perhaps fifteen species of Gentiana during the tour with another fifteen related genera that include delicate pale blue Lomatogoniums, wiry-stemmed Gentianopsises with purple flowers, strange Halenias, and a fine range of Swertias. The finest of these include a beautiful pale purple form of large-flowered Swertia patula with purple veins, and the large star-like white flowers delicately speckled with black spots that adorn the metre tall (and wide!) Swertia bimaculata.

We will seek out the remarkable climbing gentian-relative Crawfurdia campanulacea with pink and white striped bells. Monkshoods are a prominent genus at this season with species such as deep purple Aconitum duclouxi, the dwarf alpine pulchellum, climbing tsaii and near black brevicalcaratum. Abundant yellow Saxifrages are hard work to tell apart and even this late in the year there are several fine Pedicularis in flower. In wet flushes we’ll find Primula poissonii, deep magenta with an orange eye, and both Primula secundiflora and Primula deflexa, the latter with purple tubular blooms, still offer a few flowers. Arisaema franchettii has purple striped spathes with downward pointing tips, whilst orchids include lovely little pink and white Spiranthes sinensis and the lurid pink hues of Satyrium ciliatum. The autumn picture is completed with Cyananthus, half a dozen fine Delphiniums and members of the bizarre genus Saussurea such as leucoma, medusa and heiracioides on the high wild screes of the Baima Shan.