Bryophyte Exploration of South-West Sichuan, China
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BryophytesAbroad ver the past 20 years the Royal as Wolong. It also has several big mountains, Botanic Garden Edinburgh including the famous ‘Minya Konka’ (now (RBGE) has been involved with Gongga Shan, 7,556 m) at one time claimed many botanical expeditions to by the explorer Joseph Rock to be the highest Yunnan Province in south-west mountain in the world. Our study area lay on OChina, organized through our ‘twinning’ agree- the Tibetan plateau south-west of Chengdu and ment with the Kunming Institute of Botany in included the catchments of three large rivers – Yunnan. In 2010, our colleagues in the institute the Yalong Jiang, Litang Qu and Shuiluo He, all offered to organize an autumn expedition to of which flow south eventually to join the Jinsha south-west Sichuan Province, to the north of Jiang (Yangtze River). Yunnan – part of the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau and the Hengduan Mountains, the eastern Past bryological exploration of Sichuan Following his report from the Gaoligong Shan mountains in the extension of the Himalaya. Thanks to generous The Austrian Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti during October 2008 issue of Field Bryology (96), David Long takes funding from The Royal Horticultural Society, his stay in China from 1914 to 1918 visited Alpine Garden Society and other sponsors, four Sichuan twice, travelling north from his base us a little further north on another bryological adventure in of us set out for China on 25 August 2010 for over near Lijiang in Yunnan Province, to the southern south-west Sichuan. a month. The primary focus of the expedition counties of Sichuan, between 21 March and 23 Bryophyte exploration of South-west Sichuan, China was to be collection of herbarium specimens and June 1914 (Huili, Dechang, Xichang, Zhaojue & Higuchi, 2006). However, numerous Chinese seed of plants of potential horticultural interest, and Yanyuan Counties) and again from 23 bryologists have collected in Sichuan, sometimes but I was able to focus on bryophytes. My col- July to 11 August 1915 (to Yanyuan and Muli in collaboration with the American bryologists leagues were two horticultural staff members Counties). His bryophyte collections are enum- S. He and P.L. Redfearn, and their collections from RBGE, John Mitchell (expedition leader) erated by Brotherus (1929), Nicholson et al. have been widely utilized in compilation of and Ross Irvine, and David Wallbridge who had (1930) and Piippo et al. (1997), and were the recent Chinese bryophyte floras such as Wu & just finished his horticulture training at RBG first bryophytes to be collected in Sichuan. Since Wang (2000). Bryophytes known from Sichuan Kew, and had secured his funded place on the that time relatively few non-Chinese bryologists province are enumerated in the checklists of expedition by open competition. appear to have collected in Sichuan. A Finnish/ Piippo (1990) and Redfearn et al. (1996). Thus Chinese expedition visited north-west Sichuan much is known about Sichuan bryophytes, but Sichuan Province in 1991 which resulted in a liverwort checklist as with almost all of China, many regions are Sichuan is a large province covering 220,000 for the province (Piippo et al. 1997). M. Higuchi poorly explored and new discoveries will always square miles, with a population of over 110 and colleagues from the National Science result from careful fieldwork. million people. Many of these live in the central Museum, Tokyo, visited Sichuan in 1996 and Chengdu Plain, a rich agricultural and industrial reported the discovery of a new liverwort species, The 2010 expedition basin. Sichuan has around 9,000 native species Exormotheca bischleri Furuki & Higuchi (Furuki On 25 August we flew to Chengdu, capital of of higher plants, about one-third of the Chinese Sichuan, where we met our Chinese colleagues total. It has many rich and biodiverse forests, m Limestone mountains north of Jiulong. D. Long who had driven up in two 4× 4 vehicles from for example the network of Panda reserves such b A Tibetan village lady at Pengbuxi. D. Long Kunming – Dr Meng Ying, a specialist on Poly- 32 FieldBryology No103 | Feb11 FieldBryology No103 | Feb11 33 BryophytesAbroad ver the past 20 years the Royal as Wolong. It also has several big mountains, Botanic Garden Edinburgh including the famous ‘Minya Konka’ (now (RBGE) has been involved with Gongga Shan, 7,556 m) at one time claimed many botanical expeditions to by the explorer Joseph Rock to be the highest Yunnan Province in south-west mountain in the world. Our study area lay on OChina, organized through our ‘twinning’ agree- the Tibetan plateau south-west of Chengdu and ment with the Kunming Institute of Botany in included the catchments of three large rivers – Yunnan. In 2010, our colleagues in the institute the Yalong Jiang, Litang Qu and Shuiluo He, all offered to organize an autumn expedition to of which flow south eventually to join the Jinsha south-west Sichuan Province, to the north of Jiang (Yangtze River). Yunnan – part of the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau and the Hengduan Mountains, the eastern Past bryological exploration of Sichuan Following his report from the Gaoligong Shan mountains in the extension of the Himalaya. Thanks to generous The Austrian Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti during October 2008 issue of Field Bryology (96), David Long takes funding from The Royal Horticultural Society, his stay in China from 1914 to 1918 visited Alpine Garden Society and other sponsors, four Sichuan twice, travelling north from his base us a little further north on another bryological adventure in of us set out for China on 25 August 2010 for over near Lijiang in Yunnan Province, to the southern south-west Sichuan. a month. The primary focus of the expedition counties of Sichuan, between 21 March and 23 Bryophyte exploration of South-west Sichuan, China was to be collection of herbarium specimens and June 1914 (Huili, Dechang, Xichang, Zhaojue & Higuchi, 2006). However, numerous Chinese seed of plants of potential horticultural interest, and Yanyuan Counties) and again from 23 bryologists have collected in Sichuan, sometimes but I was able to focus on bryophytes. My col- July to 11 August 1915 (to Yanyuan and Muli in collaboration with the American bryologists leagues were two horticultural staff members Counties). His bryophyte collections are enum- S. He and P.L. Redfearn, and their collections from RBGE, John Mitchell (expedition leader) erated by Brotherus (1929), Nicholson et al. have been widely utilized in compilation of and Ross Irvine, and David Wallbridge who had (1930) and Piippo et al. (1997), and were the recent Chinese bryophyte floras such as Wu & just finished his horticulture training at RBG first bryophytes to be collected in Sichuan. Since Wang (2000). Bryophytes known from Sichuan Kew, and had secured his funded place on the that time relatively few non-Chinese bryologists province are enumerated in the checklists of expedition by open competition. appear to have collected in Sichuan. A Finnish/ Piippo (1990) and Redfearn et al. (1996). Thus Chinese expedition visited north-west Sichuan much is known about Sichuan bryophytes, but Sichuan Province in 1991 which resulted in a liverwort checklist as with almost all of China, many regions are Sichuan is a large province covering 220,000 for the province (Piippo et al. 1997). M. Higuchi poorly explored and new discoveries will always square miles, with a population of over 110 and colleagues from the National Science result from careful fieldwork. million people. Many of these live in the central Museum, Tokyo, visited Sichuan in 1996 and Chengdu Plain, a rich agricultural and industrial reported the discovery of a new liverwort species, The 2010 expedition basin. Sichuan has around 9,000 native species Exormotheca bischleri Furuki & Higuchi (Furuki On 25 August we flew to Chengdu, capital of of higher plants, about one-third of the Chinese Sichuan, where we met our Chinese colleagues total. It has many rich and biodiverse forests, m Limestone mountains north of Jiulong. D. Long who had driven up in two 4× 4 vehicles from for example the network of Panda reserves such b A Tibetan village lady at Pengbuxi. D. Long Kunming – Dr Meng Ying, a specialist on Poly- 32 FieldBryology No103 | Feb11 FieldBryology No103 | Feb11 33 Bryophytes abroad – south-west Sichuan b Far left. The expedition group: from left to right Ross Irvine, David Long, Liu Ya-Hui, Mr Zhang (driver), Mr Baima (driver), John Mitchell, Dr Meng Ying, Deng Tao and David Wallbridge. D. Long b Centre. Collecting on limestone scree on the Jichou Pass north of Jiulong. D. Long b Left. Expedition vehicles near Take. D. Long three broad groups, broadleaf forests and scrub, gonatum, and two of her students, Deng Tao and through a beautiful conifer-dominated forests and alpine vegetation. Liu Ya-Hui. They proved to be exceptionally able mountain landscape The bryophyte interest of these three zones is organizers and field botanists, and along with at over 4,000 m on outlined below, although in many localities these two drivers made up a very enthusiastic and lively the route to the huge habitats intergraded, for example some temperate team. After some last-minute shopping we set Genyen Shan (which broadleaf forests may have had conifers removed off westwards on the Chengdu–Lhasa highway, we never saw due to by logging, and effects of grazing and burning at first a new motorway but later a normal but cloud). After leaving have often transformed forests into scrub or very busy road with lots of big trucks and big Litang, we headed grassland. Consequently, the bryophytes often potholes. Our first stop was in Moxi, close to south along the valleys overlap between these broad habitat types. the huge Gongga Shan mountain, clothed at of the Litang Qu and lower elevations in wet broadleaf forest, but our Shuiluo He rivers and Broadleaf forests and scrub permits did not allow collecting in the nature their tributaries to the remote outposts of Xiang- and data written up in a notebook.