Quercus ilex (Fagaceae)

Home Forest Species

Quercus ilex (Fagaceae)

Common Name: Bani, Shah blaoot
Local Name: Bani

Description:

Monoecious, evergreen or deciduous trees, rarely shrubs. Leaves are usually toothed or lobed, stipulate. Male flowers in catkins, solitary or in clusters on them. Perianth campanulate or cupular, 3-6-lobed; stamens usually 6, pistillode sometimes present. Female flowers solitary or in clusters of 3 on erect spikes; perianth surrounded by an involucre of scales; ovary 3-5-locular; styles usually as many as the loculi. The fruit partially enclosed in a cupule formed by the accrescent and hardened involucral scales; seed solitary, rarely more.

Distribution and Ecology:

Widely spread over Diamer District at an elevation range of 994 m to 2300 m.
Over 400 species are distributed in America, temperate Europe, Asia, and sub-tropical Africa. Represented here by 6 species.

Betula utilis (Cupuliferae)

Home Forest Species

Betula utilis (Cupuliferae)

COMMON NAMES: Bhurj Patta, Birch
Local name: Jonzi, Taliyang

Description:

Trees or small shrubs, 2-15 m tall. Bark peeling horizontally, white, brownish or reddish-white. Young shoots pubescent, older glabrescent. Leaves ovate or rhomboid, 2.5-8.2 cm x 1.8-6.2 cm, base rounded, subcordate or cuneate, margin doubly serrate to sub-serrate, the surface sparsely pilose, often villous at the angles of the veins on the under surface; acute or acuminate; nerve pairs 6-9(-11). Petiole 0.9-2 cm long, pilose to pubescent. Male flowers in catkins 3-3.7 cm x c.4 mm. Bract is broadly ovate-obtuse, c. 1.7 mm long, pubescent on the inside; bracteoles more or less navicular, c. 1.2 mm long, ciliate. Filament inconspicuously forked, anthers c. the size of the bracteoles, oblong, sometimes aristate at the tip. Strobili 2.5-4 cm x c. 1.2 cm. Styles are variable in size. Fruiting scale 8-9 mm long, woody, lobes minutely ciliate; median lobe 4-5 mm long, linear-lanceolate, longer than the 2 erect or outspread laterals. Nut elliptic—ovate, 2.5-3 mm long, as broad as or broader than the wing. Wing sometimes with 1-2 linear appendages at the apex.

Distribution and Ecology:

Mainly located all over Gilgit-Baltistan. The temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bhutan and Afghanistan.
Birch is commonly found at the upper limit of trees, from 3000-4500 m, usually gregarious at places. A very polymorphic species as regards the shape and the number of veins of the leaf, size of the male catkins and the nature of the fruiting scale, which gradually change from the Western to the Eastern limit of its distribution range. I consider this to be an aggregate species. Some authors regard Betula jacquemontii Spach as a distinct species (Beans, Trees and Shrubs, Hardy in the British Isles, ed.8.1:434.1970 and Borowicz in Rech.f., Fl.lran.96.4.1972) but there is so much variation in the different parts that it merges into Betula utilis D. Don and it is hard to separate these from one another. The bark is smooth and white peels horizontally and is used for roofing, for umbrella covers and as a substitute for writing paper. The leaves are used as fodder for cattle.

Picea smithiana (Pinaceae)

Home Forest Species

Picea smithiana (Pinaceae)

Common name: Kachel, Himalayan Spruce

Local name: Kachul, Raien

 

Description

Trees to 60 m tall and 200 cm dbh, with a conical crown of pendulous branchlets. Bark pale brown, breaking into irregular plates. Branchlets pale brown or pale gray, glabrous. Leaves spreading radially, directed obliquely forward, slender, curved, quadrangular in cross-section, 33-55×1.3-1.8 mm, with 2-5 stomatal lines on each surface, apex acute or acuminate. Seed cones green, maturing brown, lustrous, cylindric, 10-18 × 4.5-5 cm. Seed scales broadly obovate, thick, ca. 3 × 2.4 cm, broadly triangular-obtuse. Seeds dark brown, ca. 5 mm, with a 10-15 mm wing (Wu and Raven 1999).

Distribution and Ecology

Mainly located in Astore, Gilgit and Diamer Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. Afghanistan, India: Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan, S Tibet Wu and Raven (1999). Hardy to Zone 7 (cold hardiness limit between -17.7°C and -12.2°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Vladimir Dinets (e-mail, 2004.1.14) reports that Kalam, in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, has a large forest of Cedrus deodara with some Picea smithiana and Pinus wallichiana. He also found it growing along the trail to Nanga Parbat Base Camp. “The trailhead is accessible from Gilgit by a hired jeep, or Raikot Bridge on the Karakoram Highway by hitchhiking (early morning only). Near the trailhead are some Pinus gerardiana, Juniperus semiglobosa and Cupressus torulosa, higher up – Pinus wallichiana and Picea smithiana (slim, but up to 50 m tall).

Juniperus excelsa (Cupressaceae)

Home Forest Species

Juniperus excelsa (Cupressaceae)

Common name: Juniper

Local name: Chili, Gal


Description

“Habit: tree, occasionally a shrub or a prostrate shrub, max. height 20-25 m, dbh 1.5-2.5 m or more, usually monopodial in tree forms; branches of first-order spreading or ascending, crooked in old trees: branches of higher orders more or less ascending in young trees, spreading and finally somewhat pendulous in old trees; crown (broad) pyramidal in young trees, mature trees broad, irregular, or shrub-like to prostrate in alpine locations; bark (young trees, branches) smooth, soon with papery flakes, reddish-brown, later fibrous, on old trees longitudinally furrowed, peeling in long strips, purplish-to reddish-brown. Foliage: branchlets numerous, in dorsiventral sprays (young trees) or more irregular and very dense esp. in a dry environment; ultimate branchlets covered with leaves, quadrangular to more or less terete, very fine, diam. 0.7-1 mm, persistent. Leaves: Juvenile leaves on seedlings or on lower, shaded branches of trees, ternate, acicular, c. 8-10 x l mm, widest at the base, keeled, pungent; mature leaves scale-like, decussate, imbricate, appressed or free at the mostly incurved apex, decurrent at the base, ovate-rhombic on ultimate branchlets, (ob)lanceolate-acute on older shoots (-3.5 mm long), 0.6-1.1 x 0.4-0.8 mm, with entire margins; glands large and conspicuous, elliptic to nearly circular, often resinous; stomata on juvenile leaves epistomatic, on mature leaves amphistomatic in mostly 2 inconspicuous lines tapering from base to apex; color light green or yellowish-green; in juvenile as well as in mature leaves a single median resin cavity occurs. Male strobili: numerous, solitary and terminal or subterminal on ultimate branchlets, 3-4 x 2-3 mm, greenish maturing yellowish; microsporophylls 8-10, peltate with rounded, thin margins, each bearing 3-4 pollen sacs. Female cones: numerous, mostly solitary and axillary, subterminal on ultimate branchlets, sessile; young strobili stellate-spheroid. surrounded by green leaves or bracts, 2-3 mm diam., purplish-green to blue; mature cones globose, l mm diam., purplish-brown to blackish-purple, often pruinose; seed scales 4(-6), decussate, entirely fused with bracts and each other, the two largest meeting at the distal pole of the cone, 4-9 mm long, surface smooth, waxy, with a ridge terminating in a small umbo (0.5-0.6 mm), interior resinous, becoming woody, yellowish (in sicco). Seeds: (2-)3-6(-8) per cone (some ovules usually abort), angular, broadest at the base, ovoid but flattened or curved, 4-6 x 3-4 mm, yellowish to reddish-brown.

“Juniperus excelsa subsp. polycarpous differs from the typical subspecies in the following characters: Ultimate branchlets more quadrangular, thicker (1-1.3 mm), often irregularly disposed and intricate, leaves on ultimate branchlets sometimes free at apex, larger (1.2-1.6 x 0.8-0.9 mm); female cones similar to the typical subspecies but with on average fewer seeds (2-)3-4(-6) and sometimes larger (diam. up to 14 mm in e.g. R. Dunckelman 46 from Gardez, Afghanistan), more variable in size.” (Farjon 1992).

Distribution and Ecology

Sparsely located throughout Gilgit-Baltistan. Albania, Yugoslavia (Macedonia), Greece (Macedonia, Thraki and Euboea), S Bulgaria, Turkey (Anatolia and eastward to Armenia), Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran (Elburz Mts.) to near Ashkhabad (Kopet Mts.) in Turkmenia, Afghanistan, Pakistan (Baluchistan), Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, and India (Himachal Pradesh) (Farjon 1992). Hardy to Zone 6 (cold hardiness limit between -23.2°C and -17.8°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Pinus wallichiana (Pinaceae)

Home Forest Species

Pinus wallichiana (Pinaceae)

COMMON NAMES: Kail, Biar, Blue pine

Local name: Chee, Gashi

 

Description

Tree to 50+ m tall with a straight trunk and short, downcurved branches. Branches longer in solitary trees, creating a dome-like crown. Bark on young trees smooth, becoming fissured with age. Branches in regularly spaced whorls, smooth. Young shoots glaucous, later turning pale grey-green, smooth, ribbed, darkening with age. Winter buds grey with an orange tinge, ovoid-conic, pointed. Leaves in fascicles of 5, basal sheaths deciduous, 15-20 cm long, often curved at the base, slender, flexible, abaxial side green, adaxial side with multiple bluish-white stomatal lines; usually pendant but in some trees spreading. Male strobili on lower branches, often in dense clusters on younger twigs. Female cones in groups of 1-6, 20-30 cm long, erect when young but later pendant [see photo], bluish-green when young, maturing to light brown with pale brown apophyses. Cone scales wedge-shaped, wide near the apex, apophysis grooved, ending in a blunt umbo; basal scales usually not, or only slightly, reflexed, very resinous (Farjon 1984).

Distribution and Ecology

Widely spread throughout Gilgit-Baltistan. Himal: southern flank, from Afghanistan through Pakistan, India, Tibet (China: Xizang), Nepal and Bhutan to Burma. Found in valleys and foothills at elevations of 1800-3900 m, sometimes in pure stands but often in association with conifers including Cedrus deodara, Abies pindrow, Picea smithiana and polycarpous, and with broadleaved species including Quercus semecarpifolia, Betula utilis, ard Acer and Ilex species. It may also be associated with the more narrowly distributed pines Pinus kesiya and P. roxburghii. It is shade-intolerant, thus early seral (Farjon 1984, Sahni 1990, Singh and Yadav 2000). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Pinus gerardiana (Pinaceae)

Home Forest Species

Pinus gerardiana (Pinaceae)

Common name: Chilghoza pine
Local Name: Chalghoza, Thulash

Description:

Trees 10-20(25) m tall. Crown is usually deep, wide and open with long, erect branches, but crown narrower and shallower in dense forest. Bark very flaky, peeling to reveal light greyish-green patches, similar to Pinus bungeana. Branchlets smooth, olive-green. Leaves in fascicles of 3, 6-10 cm long, finer than those of P. bungeana, spreading stiffly, sheaths falling after 1 year. Female cones 12-20 cm long, 10 cm wide when open, with wrinkled, reflexed apophyses and an umbo curved inward at the base. Seeds >2 cm long with a rudimentary wing (Farjon 1984, Richardson and Rundel 1998). The seeds are not shed but are retained by the wing adhering to the base of the scale above (Lanner 1996).

Distribution and Ecology:

Potentially located at lower slopes of Diamer District and sparsely located in the lower Astore, Nagar and Ghizer. Himal: E Afghanistan, N Pakistan, India: Jammu-Kashmir, Tibet (Farjon 1998). Mostly grows in valleys at 2000-3350 m elevation (Farjon 1984), in the dry temperate forest of the inner ranges of the Himalaya, where the summer monsoon is weak and precipitation, mostly in the form of snow, rarely exceeds 1000 mm per year. In these forests it occurs with Cedrus deodara, Quercus ilex and polycarpous (Bhattacharyya et al. 1988). Hardy to Zone 7 (cold hardiness limit between -17.7°C and -12.2°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Cedrus deodara (Pinaceae)

Home Forest Species

Cedrus deodara (Pinaceae)

Common name: Diar, Deodar, Himalayan Cedar

Local name: Diar, Phulus

Description:

“A tree up to 50 m high and up to 3 m in diameter. Crown conical when young, with the drooping leader and branches drooping at the end (Fig. 67), older trees rounded. Branches are horizontally arranged, and the end of the shoots pendulous. One-year shoots are densely pubescent. Needles blue-green, about 30 in a cluster, 3-5 cm long, acuminate. Flowers appear in September and October. Cones solitary or in pairs. ovate or barrel-shaped. 7-10 cm long, 5-6 cm wide, rounded at the apex, bluish when young, reddish-brown when ripe; maturing from September to November; the seed is shed from September to December; seed scales 5-6 cm wide, usually glabrous on the upper side. Seed about 17 mm long, about 6 mm wide; wing large, light brown” (Vidakovic 1991).

Distribution and Ecology

The dominant specie of Diamer District in Gilgit-Baltistan. India and Pakistan: W Himal and S slopes of the Hindu Kush (Silba 1986, Vladimir Dinets e-mail 1998.01.02) at 1100-3000 m, “usually on silicate mother rocks. … The best trees are found on deep, well-drained soils. High atmospheric moisture is favorable. It is tolerant to shade, but young trees are prone to injury from frosts and cold wind” (Vidakovic 1991). It is a component of the temperate forest, usually on north-facing valley slopes, where rainfall ranges from less than 1000 mm per year up to 2500 mm per year, mostly in the form of winter snow. In these forests, C. deodara is associated with a wide array of conifers and some broadleaf trees. Species present may include Pinus wallichiana, Taxus baccata, Picea smithiana, Abies spectabilis, and Abies pindrow, as well as species of Quercus, Rhododendron, Acer, Corylus, Aesculus and Betula. At somewhat lower and drier (precipitation less than 1000 mm/year, mostly as snow) elevations it commonly occurs with Pinus gerardiana, Quercus ilex and polycarpous (Bhattacharyya et al. 1988).

Abies pindrow (Pinaceae)

Home Forest Species

Abies pindrow (Pinaceae)

Common name: Partal, Silver Fir.

Local name: Qachul

Description:

Trees to 60 m tall and 300 cm DBH, typically with a single straight, round trunk, short branches, and a narrow, conical crown. Bark first smooth and gray, becoming thick, gray-brown and longitudinally furrowed. Buds globose, large, and resinous. Twigs stiff, pinkish to pale brown, soon fading to pale gray, glabrous, lightly ridged, with circular leaf scars. Leaves spirally arranged but appearing roughly 2-ranked on shade foliage, the upper leaves somewhat shorter than the lower, 3-6 cm × 1.3-2 mm, twisted at base, flattened, grooved and dark green above, with 2 gray stomatal bands below; no stomata on upper surface; apex bifid or emarginate or obtuse, but acute on coning shoots. Pollen cones lateral, numerous, on the underside of shoots, 10-15 mm long, yellow-brown when active. Seed cones lateral, erect, on short peduncles, cylindrical with obtuse apex, 10-14 × 5-6 cm, first violet-blue, at maturity dark red-brown, with flabellate seed scales 25-35 × 30-40 mm having a slightly striated surface and entire upper margin; bracts hidden. Seeds 10-12 long with a 15-20 mm brown wing.

Distribution and Ecology

Gilgit, Astore and Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan and widely throughout the western Himalaya, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, at elevations of 2000-3300(-3700) m; the climate is monsoonal, cool and moist, increasingly snow-dominated from the western to eastern range limits. Occurs in pure stands, but is also often codominant with Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, or Cedrus deodara, and less frequently occurs with Tsuga dumosa; at lower elevations broadleaf angiosperms become progressively dominant, replacing the conifers at elevations below 1600 m (Vidakovic 1991; Farjon 2010; Siddiqui et al. 2013, 2015). Bioclimatic modeling of an area in Pakistan indicates that global climate change is likely to lead to future reductions in the species (Ali et al. 2014 ). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).