Research Article |
Corresponding author: Li-Na Dong ( donglina2014@163.com ) Corresponding author: Wei‑Bin Xu ( gxibwbxu@163.com ) Academic editor: Wen-Bin Yu
© 2019 Yun-Feng Huang , Li-Na Dong, Wei‑Bin Xu.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Huang Y-F, Dong L-N, Xu W (2019) Lysimachia fanii, a new species of Primulaceae from limestone area of Guangxi, China. In: Cai J, Yu W-B, Zhang T, Li D-Z (Eds) Revealing of the plant diversity in China’s biodiversity hotspots. PhytoKeys 130: 75-84. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.130.34655
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Lysimachia fanii, a new species of Lysimachia (Subgen. Idiophyton, Primulaceae), is described and illustrated from Guangxi, China based on morphological and molecular data. Lysimachia fanii differs from L. verbascifolia, L. rupestris and L. alpestris mainly by the habit being nearly rosulate, leaves congested at the apex of the rhizome, leaf blades spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate and flowers solitary. Phylogenetic analyses supported L. verbascifolia as sister to L. fanii. This new species is endemic to limestone areas in Liucheng county of Guangxi, China.
Lysimachia, subgen. Idiophyton, Primulaceae, taxonomy, limestone flora
The genus Lysimachia L. (1753: 146) includes about 190 species and was originally placed in Primulaceae (
The south-western limestone karst area is one of China’s biodiversity hotspots. These areas are fragile and sensitive to environmental change and, in the wake of the rapid economic development of China, they are facing serious threat. Documentation of the plant diversity in these regions is urgently needed. Thus, we are surveying traditional medicinal plants in the limestone areas of Guangxi and trying to increase our knowledge of these poorly studied areas. During fieldwork in May 2018, we discovered an unknown species in Lysimachia. This species is allied to subgen. Heterostylandra by having rosette leaves, but it differs in having heteromorphic flowers. It shows alliance to subgen. Idiophyton, subgen. Lysimachia and subgen. Palladia by having 5-merous flowers, but has unique filaments, anthers and glands. After morphological observation and consulting relevant literature (
We followed the classification of Lysimachia of
Total genomic DNA was extracted from silica-dried plant leaves by a modified CTAB protocol (
Species of Lysimachia and related taxa sampled and GenBank accession numbers of sequences used in this study.
Sequences of each DNA region were aligned using MUSCLE 3.8.31 (
Maximum Parsimony (MP) analyses were conducted using PAUP v.4.0b10 (
Bayesian Inference (BI) analyses were conducted using MrBayes version 3.1.2 (
In total, 29 atpF-atpH, rpl32-trnL, trnL-trnF and ITS sequences and 25 trnS-G sequences were included. The combined matrix has a length of 3649 aligned characters (ITS: 653bp, atpF-atpH: 512bp, rpl32-trnL: 728bp, trnL-trnF: 946bp, trnS-G: 810bp), of which 363 are parsimony informative. The inferred phylogenies using MP and BI analyses are congruent (Fig.
CHINA. Guangxi Zhuangzu Autonomous Region: Liucheng County, Taiping Town, 23°42'50"N, 109°29'20"E, 320 m a.s.l., 21 May 2018, flowering, L.Y. Fan et al. FLY2018001 (holotype, GXMI!; isotypes, IBK!, GXMI!).
Lysimachia fanii differs from congeneric species in subgen. Idiophyton mainly by the habit being nearly rosulate, leaves congested at the apex of the rhizome, leaf blades spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate and flowers being solitary.
Herbaceous perennial, glabrous. Rhizome subterete, 6–8 cm long, 4–6 mm in diameter, branched at the apex of the rhizome. Leaves papery, thickly papery to thinly leathery when dry, spirally arranged, congested at the apex of the rhizome, ± forming a rosette, subsessile, spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate, 6–21 × 0.6–2.0 cm, tapering towards the base, apex acute to obtuse, glabrous adaxially, glandular abaxially, veins invisible on both sides. Flowers solitary, axillary. Pedicel 3.0–6.0 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter, densely glandular. Calyx lobes lanceolate, 5–6 × ca. 3 mm, 5 (rarely 6), separate to near the base, apex acuminate, glabrous inside, glandular outside. Corolla yellow, deeply parted, tube 0.5–1.0 mm; lobes broadly ovate, 7.0 × 6.0 mm, apex obtuse, glabrous on both sides. Filaments ca. 1.5 mm long, lower 0.5 mm connate into a tube; anthers 3–3.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter, basifixed, opening by apical pores. Ovary globose, ca. 1 mm in diameter; style 2.8 mm long, slightly shorter than stamens. Capsule globose, 3.5–4 mm in diameter.
Flowering from May to June.
The new species is named after Mr. Li-Yong Fan, who first discovered and collected this rare species.
CHINA. Guangxi: Liucheng County, Taiping Town. 320 m a.s.l., 21 May 2018, L.Y. Fan et al. FLY2018002 (IBK, GXMI).
Based on the molecular phylogeny, L. fanii belongs to subgenus Idiophyton, that is also supported by the morphological characters of basifixed anthers, short filaments and anthers open by apical pores. L. fanii is morphologically similar to L. verbascifolia C.M.Hu & L.K.Phan that is endemic to limestone areas in Vietnam (
Comparison of characters amongst Lysimachia fanii, L. verbascifolia, L. rupestris and L. alpestris.
Morphological traits | L. fanii | L. verbascifolia | L. rupestris | L. alpestris |
Rhizome | 6–8 cm long, branched at the apex | 4–10 cm long, geniculate at the base | 2–5 cm long, with stolons from the base | 1–4 cm long, with stolons from the base |
Leaf blade | spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate, 6–21 × 0.6–2.0 cm | elliptic to broadly elliptic, 7–17 × 3.5–8.0 cm | elliptic-oblance-olate, 3–6.5 × 1.2–2.2 cm | spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate, 3–6 × 0.6–1.5 cm |
Leaf indumentum | glabrous adaxially, glandular abaxially | greyish villous on both sides | minutely glandular on both sides | dense long coarse greyish hairs on both sides |
Lateral veins | invisible on both sides | obvious, densely greyish villous | prominent abaxially | invisible on both sides |
Inflorescence | flowers solitary | subumbellate | flowers solitary | flowers solitary |
Corolla | yellow, deeply parted, tube 0.5–1.0 mm | pale yellow, divided nearly to the base | yellow, divided nearly to the base | yellow, deeply parted, tube 1–1.5 mm |
Filaments | ca. 1.5 mm long, lower 0.5 mm connate into a tube | ca. 3 mm long, connate basally into a ring | ca. 1 mm long, connate basally into a ring | ca. 3 mm long, lower 1.5 mm connate into a tube |
Anthers | 3-3.5 mm long, basifixed, opening by apical pores | ca. 5 mm long, basifixed, opening by apical pores | 4–5 mm long, basifixed, opening by apical pores | ca. 2 mm long, dorsifixed, opening by lateral slits |
Flower | May to June | June to October | April to May | April |
The authors are grateful to Mr. Xincheng Qu (Guangxi Institute of Chinese Medicine & Pharmaceutical Sciences) for the fine line drawings, to Mr. Xiaomao Huang and Mr. Wanlong Wei for their help in the field, to Dr. Mark Hughes (Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh) for his helpful comments. This study was supported by Science & Technology Basic Resources Investigation Program of China (Grant no. 2017FY100100) and also in part by The Chinese Medicine Public Health Service Subsidy Special “National Chinese Medicine Resources Census Project” (CS 2017, No. 6) and the Construction of a Joint Laboratory for Quality Research of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Guangxi and Macao (GuiKe AD17195002).