Academic editor: S. Knapp
Liao R-L, Cai L, Yu Z-Y, Wang Y-H, Sun W-B (2021)
The genus
The material for this study was mainly collected during field surveys assessing the conservation status of the plants of Yunnan Province, China. Herbarium specimens were made carefully and dissected flowers were dried separately to enable examination and illustration in the laboratory. Additionally, flowers were preserved in formalin-acetic acid-alcohol (
Fresh pollen grains and leaf blades were collected from the living plants introduced from the field and cultivated at Kunming Botanical Garden (
China, Yunnan Province, Jinping County, Maandi, alt. 1650 m a.s.l.,
This species is similar to
Perennial herb, 10–35 cm tall, glabrous. Root-system shallow, with runners and adventitious roots. Stem fleshy, erect, simple, lower nodes swollen. Leaves simple, alternate, aggregated or subverticillate at stem apex; petiole 0.5–2.4 cm long, leaf blade 3.5–12 × 1.5–4 cm, elliptic, lanceolate, or lanceolate-oblong, base cuneate, margin roughly crenate, mucronulate, apex acuminate, adaxial surface dark green, abaxial surface pale green, lateral veins 4–8 pairs. Racemes in the upper leaf axils, 1–4, 4.2–28 cm long, erect, each with up to 22 flowers. Pedicels 0.6–2.5 cm long, bracteate at base. Bracts ca. 8 mm long, lanceolate to subulate, apex acute, base obtuse, margin entire. Flowers yellow. Lateral sepals 4, light green, the outer pair ca. 5–8 × 3–4 mm, ovate or obovate; the inner pair ca. 8–13 × 1–3 mm, sickle-shaped, obliquely lanceolate, apex acuminate or caudate. Lower sepal 1.5–2.2 × 1.2–2 cm excluding the spur, yellow to yellowish green with reddish patches, obliquely infundibuliform, base gradually constricted into a spur, spur 1.2–3 cm long, slightly incurved or narrowing to incurved, apex rostellate. Dorsal petal 1.3–2.3 × 0.7–1.6 cm, yellow with nearly transparent base, obovate to ovate, apex acuminate, with an inconspicuous dorsal crest, base truncate or cuneate. Lateral united petals ca. 1.6–3 cm long, yellow with nearly transparent base and reddish patches; the upper petals ca. 1.5–2.3 × 0.7–1 cm, oblong; the lower petal ca.1.2–1.8 × 0.6–0.8 cm, reniform. Stamens 5, filaments linear, ca. 3 mm long, anthers obtuse. Ovary fusiform, slightly curved. Placentation axile with four locules. Capsule (immature) clavate, 2–2.5 cm long.
Pollen grains triangular-round with three equal sides in polar view, and the equatorial view is elliptic, long-elliptic, P×E=16.56±1.78 (14.51–21.73)× 30.00±0.98 (28.35–32.11) μm. 3-colpate, linear, the entire surface is covered with reticulate ornamentation, granules in lumina (Fig.
Micromorphology of
The anticlinal walls of the epidermal cells on the adaxial surfaces are straight, while those of the abaxial surface are sinuate. The stomata only appeared on the abaxial surface of the leaf, the shape was anomocytic and the outline of the guard cells was suborbiculate (Fig.
This new species was observed flowering from August to November, and fruiting from September to December.
This species is currently known from only two small subpopulations less than 10 km away (Shidong and Biaoshuiyan) in Jinping County of Southeast Yunnan, China (Fig.
Distribution of
This new species has a runner with adventitious root produced from the nodes and was collected growing in the understory of forest at an elevation of 1300–1650 m. In the subpopulation in Shidong, the plants found coexist with the cultivated
This species is currently known only from Jinping County, Yunnan, China with one type locality and a subpopulation. The Extent of Occurrence (EOO) is less than 100 km2 and the known Area of Occupancy (AOO) is less than 15 km2. The conservation status can be evaluated as Vulnerable (VU) D2 based on IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (
The specific epithet ‘
Paratypes. China. Yunnan Province: Jinping County, Maandi Town, Shidong.
The new species is most similar to
In order to illustrate the morphological circumscription of the new species, we compare the new species with four species with similar morphological characters in Table
Comparison of morphological characters in
Character |
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Plant height | 10–35 (16.71±5.30) cm | 35–60 cm | 30–60 cm | 50–60 cm | 50–80 cm |
Length of petiole | 0.5–2.4 (1.02±0.44) cm | sub-sessile or sessile | 2–4 cm | 1–2 cm | (0.5–) 1–2 cm |
Shape of leaf blade | elliptic, lanceolate, or lanceolate-oblong | obovate or obovate-lanceolate | oblong-ovate or oblong-oblanceolate | obovate or oblanceolate | obovate to oblanceolate |
Size of leaf | 3.5–12 (7.53±1.86) × 1.5–4 (2.90±0.79) cm | 12–20 × 3.5–6 cm | 10–22 × 4–8 cm | 8–15 (–18) × 3.5–5 cm | 10–15 (–18) × 5–8 cm |
Length of peduncle | 4–28 (13.00±6.71) cm | 15–17 cm | 7–15 cm | 8–10 cm | 10–15 cm, |
No. of flowers in an inflorescence | up to 22 flowers | 6–8 flowers | 4–10 flowers | 5–9 flowers | 3–5 (–7) flowers |
Shape and length of spur | slightly incurved or incurved, gradually constricted, 1.2–3 (2.06±0.45) cm long | nearly straight, gradually constricted, 2–2.5 cm long | incurved, abruptly elongated, 2–2.5 cm long | incurved, abruptly narrowed, 5–6 mm long | involuted, abruptly constricted, 1–1.5 cm long |
Bracts | lanceolate to subulate, persistent | lanceolate or subulate, persistent | invisible | ovate, caducous | ovate, deciduous |
Lower sepal | obliquely infundibuliform, with reddish patches, 1.2–2.8 (1.94±0.38) × 0.8–2.2 (1.38±0.37) cm | obliquely infundibuliform, with reddish patches, 1.8–2 × 2.5–3 cm | narrowly funnel-shaped, with reddish patches, 3 cm | narrowly funnel-shaped, absent patch, 2 × 3 cm | slightly narrowly funnel-shaped, with reddish patches, 2.5–3.5 cm |
Dorsal petal | ovate, 1.3–2.3 (1.80±0.28) × 0.7–1.6 (1.15±0.26) cm | obovate, 1.8–2.2 × 1.5–2 cm | ellipticum, 1–4 cm | obovate, ca. 2 cm | ovate, 10–12 × 7–9 mm |
Lateral united petals | 1.6–3 cm long, with reddish patches | 2.8–3 cm long, with reddish patches | 2–3 cm long, with apparent reddish patches | 2–6 cm long, absent patch | 2–2.5 cm long, with reddish patches |
Pollen grains | 30.00±0.98 (28.35–32.11) × 16.56±1.78 (14.51–21.73) μm | 28.84 (27.98–30.17) × 20.57 (19.70–21.63) μm | 31.85 (30.96–32.73) × 5.57 (5.13–6.75) μm | Missing data | 30.13 (29.62–30.47) × 12.95 (12.68–13.54) μm |
The authors are grateful to Ms. Rongmei Zhang for her beautiful drawings. We also thank Shiwei Guo, Xianyao Li and Zongli Liang for their help in collecting specimens, and Zhijia Gu for the help in cryo-
This author contributed equally as the first author.