Wildflower tour of Sichuan Province, China: photo gallery III

Please visit us at: http://botanyboy.org/ The middle of the journey is at hand. In this section we travel to the lowest valleys of the trip to the city of Pingwu, a mere 900 meters above sea level (2,950 feet). Soon though, we are off to the high mountains and all the fabulous alpine flowers of this region. The Tibetan Plateau and associated mountains have the most extensive continuous high alpine habitats in the world and not surprisingly are the repository of an amazingly diverse alpine flora. Here genera such as Pedicularis, Primula, Corydalis, Saxifraga, and Meconopsis are in full form. Due to the high altitude, most orchids drop out, but a few Ponerorchis and Amitosigma can still be seen. The only Cypripedium found in these alpine meadows is C. tibeticum, but still lower down than most of the true alpine plants. One also has to beware of the ever present yak poop that dots these mountain meadows - more than once I had literal face to face encounters with it when photographing the flowers you see here.

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