I recently spent a couple of weeks in northern Vietnam, up near the Chinese border looking for good things. November is in the dry season, but it can often still be wet and cool up in the mountains. Luckily the sun shone bright and warm for all but two of our days there, which, considering the quality of some of the hiking trails in the mountains, was a God send. There is no really good Flora of Vietnam to refer to, so working out what is what is sometimes a tad tricky, especially when one considers how mega diverse the plant life is. All of Vietnam is well inside the tropics, so to find temperate flora one must get high... and gain altitude. Between highs, one passes through some pretty impressive tropical vegetation, but one musn't waste ones time on that, must one?

We spent 3 days on the highest peak in Indochina, Fan Si Pan, at 3143m high and also headed into rather more (botanically) uncharted territory in Ha Giang province, as well as various day trips here and there. The food is great and the people are friendly. Dog tastes like lamb.

Here are a few photos...

Our guide was a friendly and helpful dude. Fan Si Pan looms large over his right shoulder.


Aralia were fairly common at the roadside. This one is A. chapaense.


Edgeworthia sp. Not sure yet on the correct specific identity of this one, though it is supposed to be E. gardneri. It made shrubs to at least 2m high.


Dendropanax trifidus. An araliad shrub/small tree.


Tetradium sp. I am calling this T. ruticarpum and I believe I am correct.
The undersides of the pinnate leaves of this fast growing handsome tree are pink in this part of it's very large range.


Schefflera macrophylla was found at mid elevations in full sun as here, where it has a compact crown, or in shade (wait for it). Note the undersides of the leaves are a good beige...




Here's a moody mountain shot with a fluffy cloud. It's actually the northern end of the Huang Lien Son mountain range. A fabulously rich area for temperate plants.


One of the amazing ferns from the family Gleicheniaceae, Dicranopteris linearis. These can be weedy monsters, climbing over other juicy delights, but I will forgive them.


From our hotel balcony in SaPa we could see what lay ahead after breakfast; a wee hike up Fan Si Pan. Note to self: Must do some training before hand next time.


Curculigo crassifolia was a trackside weed at mid elevations. Pleasant enough.


Dichroa aff. hirsuta. A Hydrangea relative.


Talking of Hydrangeas; this one is H. indochinensis. Not likely very hardy, but what foliage. Some forms however don't have the purple undersides.


An all too familiar site once you get into the forest. Cardamom growers are destroying the understory, across vast areas, for an easy cash crop. Everywhere we went (up to a certain altitude) this was happening, even in nature reserves.


Gordonia axillaris, a Camellia relative making a small tree, was shedding flowers all over the place.


Schefflera fantsipanensis was common enough. This is probably this species, though there are other very closely related species in the area, all sharing the feature of a double rank of leaflets. How distinct they all are is another matter...


Vast swathes of mega rich virgin forest on the slopes of Fan Si Pan were destroyed by fire from Chinese shelling in the mid 1970's, apparently.


Looking north from the path on Fan Si Pan in late afternoon. With all our planty faffing we were behind schedule and had quite some altitude to gain to get to camp before dark.


Swivelling round to the east you can see that at this altitude we are amongst a thicket of relatively small bamboo with occasional shrubs.


Next morning we surveyed the scene around our campsite. A sea of Borinda to a height of about 4 or 5m.


Schefflera alpina are cute and always a pleasure to greet at the edge of the path.


The view back towards that hotel balcony was getting good...


Daphniphyllum aff. chartaceum.


Camp 2 was spent under Lithocarpus etc, beside a rather pleasant, boulder strewn river.


This is the top of a Schefflera macrophylla that has been felled by cardamom planters. SHOCK HORROR! Note, however, the undersides of the leaves are very pale, almost white.


This is one of the largest S. macrophylla we found. Note how open the crown is when growing as an understory plant.




Rather than resurrect that old thread about iridescent plants, here's a lovely blue Begonia in deep shade.


I just loved this fabulous fern. Dipteris chinensis.




Getting up and then backdown virtually vertical sections was fun to say the least...


Some members of the crew enjoyed toasty tadpoles for lunch. These surprisingly large babies (about 10cm) were hooked out of the river by our porters.


Our Black Hmong ethnic minority porters posing in front of a rather common tree that often made quite magnificent specimens at mid elevation. I have no idea what it is, but the bark is very thin, with a satin finish and exfoliates every year in patches. Ideas please.


The French half of the expedition, Charles, poses with what we believe to be Blechnum orientale. My literature has this as growing fronds to nowhere near this big. These were about 2.5m!


I believe this handsome beast to be Schefflera farinosa. Rather low altitude this though and will be less hardy than S. macrophylla I would imagine. Leaves were about the same size as S. delavayi.


Dawn in a stilt house village in the middle of nowhere. We had to fill rivers with rocks 4 or 5 times, in the dark, just to get our 4WD vehicle up to this place, where we were expected for a homestay with the locals. The WC, which projected out over this pond, had a palm leaf for a door and last night's supper made good eating for the carp directly below.


Our new porters head off toward Caryota maxima (not that they had any interest in it)


More of the same towering over the river.


I haven't worked out what these fan palms are yet. They aren't a Livistona and the underside of the fronds was pale and stood out quite strikingly from a certain angle. Our route took us up along that far ridge from right to left. We made the top (top left) by dusk


I just love that amphitheatre in the middle.


Our porters were gathering bamboo shoot tips as they went, which made a delicious lunch, spent in a cardamom growers hut.


Pentapanax makes a small tree, but is a semi-parasite and is very difficult to cultivate.


As we gained height we reached further into the ancient, almost untouched forest, which of course is now being planted up with cardamom


Would love to put a name on this Begonia...


Who needs a tent when you have a rock? Our climb from 500m to over 2000m was a sweaty one.


The ancient forest canopy above was a site for sore eyes. This is probably Acer campbellii, in autumn garb, making a tree hugely bigger than it gets to in the UK.


This could be Daphne bholua, but I wasn't aware that it was listed from Vietnam. It was certainly very close and smelled as good.


This Ophiopogon grew an upright stem to about 30cm. Anyone recognise it? I'm thinking probably not.


On our return back to SaPa we stopped to stroke another member of the Gleicheniaceae; Gleichenia truncata.




Back up in the temperate zone we had the pleasure of handling the giant conkers (Horse chestnuts/Buckeyes) of Aesculus wangii. The biggest one I found was a whopping 8.5cm diameter, which makes it 1.5 cm bigger than Flora of China has it. This taxon is considered synonymous with A. assamica, which has a huge range, though further investigation would appear to be necessary.


A. wangii. Biggest we found and the mama of the forest.


I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these young Emmenopterys. I wasn't aware this was in Vietnam, and, so it seems, neither are other experts with a keen interest in Asian flora.


Woodwardia unigemmata as it should be grown, and no doubt enjoying the fog.


Exbucklandia tonkinensis made a small evergreen tree. This needs trial in the west...


It was a pleasure to see Liriodendron chinense in habitat. Note the foliage of adult trees compared to....


...the stark difference of a young vigorous specimen.


A Rhus, perhaps R. rhetsoides, perhaps R. potaninii, perhaps something else.


And to end, myself with the leaf of a close relative of Schefflera; Brassaiopsis bodinieri.

Wow...not only am I impressed at all the different trees and plants that you found...but you knew what a lot of them were (in an area with so many strange plants)! At first when I saw your Tetradium pic with the pink undersides, I thought it was a bit of autumn foliage--but of course, you saw autumn foliage once you reached higher elevations. The tulip tree pic is fascinating (in the way that sweetgums in Central America are)...of course, a very easy ID.

I've not yet been to Vietnam (though I'll go sometime in the next year or two), but I've looked at climate stats for there and have noticed how cool the northern part gets during late fall and winter. If I remember correctly, Hanoi had several days in a row around a year ago where they had highs only in the 50s (when China was having snow in parts of their south).

When I go, I'll probably be safe from eating dog since I'm a vegetarian--though I'm willing to "bend a bit" and eat insects (because, well, you eat them whether you want to or not if you have tomato sauce or flour) on purpose--they've got some of that, for sure. My co-worker who's from Vietnam talked about how some people drink snake blood, but it's REALLY expensive (like $100 a pop).

Anyway, nice pics!

Super, Nick thanks!

Getting the right names was surely an achievement, well done!

Well thats a very nice trip!!! I love to make those kind of tracks to exotic mountains where you find all those lovely plants!!! And that mountain is certainly on my list of places to visit one day!
I did not know that Liriodendron chinense is found that far south! A very nice mixture of paleotropical and holarctic stuff they get up there on that mountain! Its a bit similair you see in the Sierra Gorda in Mexico, a mixture of temperate and tropical plants. I guess a lot of temperate plants found on Fan Si Pan are relicts of the last Iceages. Driven south in those days and found a refuge on that mountain.
Liriodendron chinense is winterhardy in Europe by the way. And Liriodendron fossils have been found in Europe.

Hedychium maxima should also be found in that area according to Plant Delight Nursery.

Probably that forest is not so different from the tertiary laurophyllus forest ones found in Europe millions of years ago.

Alexander

Been looking forward to this and was not disappointed. Fantastic epic journey with the usual quality pics. Surely there must be a second chapter!?

What can you say?! Probably the most interesting post I've read on any plant forum. Wonderfully diverse collection of photos of a wonderfulyl diverse collection of plants. Coming soon to a walled nursery near you???

More!

Fascinating and beautiful. It's a place on the list to visit, if only because my partner comes from there originally. You can be sure I'll be showing her this thread.

Nick I don't know enough superlatives for the photos. Please please tell me you came back with some spores from those fabtastic Dipteris. What an experience that must have been.

Nick... Absolute brill photos This is possibly the first real occasion in which we have seen the flora from that uncharted area. Interesting comment on the tetradium as all the Crug specimens came from Taiwan. The Schefflera pictures are awesome . Did you arrange your escorts and guide prior to visiting or when you arrived? I had heard that you cannot travel on your own probably because of its near vicinity to China? Hopefully you have more picks to show

What an absolute treat on a cold winter's day in the UK. Fantastic Nick. Thanks for sharing your trip with us all.

I can only echo what others have already said - what a brilliant post. Thanks for sharing the pics and anecdotes, Nick.

LOL- Nice one Mr Macer Stunning pics as always.

Would of loved to see the look are your face when told what was in the meal- especially being a fully paid up vegetarian

I'd guess the 'menu' is a little limited in some of the off beat places but when in Rome and all that

Wonderful!. Thank you very much Nick, I can't wait to see what impact your trip makes on your nursery stock over the coming months and years.

most enjoyable photologue!

Many thanks for taking the time to post some of your amazing photologue, some of the plants you came across were simply amazing I really like the large Blechnum orientale.