Research Article |
Corresponding author: Shi-Pin Chen ( fjcsp@126.com ) Academic editor: Gian Pietro Giusso del Galdo
© 2021 Xiao Luo, Qi-Yi Yang, Zhe Zhang, Pan Zhu, Liang Ma, Xin-Yan Chen, Shu-Yi Lin, Shi-Pin Chen.
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:
Luo X, Yang Q-Y, Zhang Z, Zhu P, Ma L, Chen X-Y, Lin S-Y, Chen S-P (2021) Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis, a new species of Caryophyllaceae from Fujian, China. PhytoKeys 181: 21-28. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.181.67436
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Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis, a new species from the Wuyishan National Park, Fujian, China, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis resembles P. heterantha. However, the new species can be distinguished by presence of stolons, 1 line of hairs on the stem, smaller leaf blades, shorter pedicels, and ovary with 2 styles.
Caryophyllaceae, Fujian, Pseudostellaria, Wuyishan National Park
Pesudostellaria Pax is a small genus that belongs to the tribe Alsineae in Caryophyllaceae (
Since the turn of the 21st century, 3 new species of Pesudostellaria have been established in China.
During an investigation of wild plants in Fujian Province, southeastern China, that took place in May 2019 and October 2020, an unknown species of Pseudostellaria was collected from the deciduous broad-leaved forest in Wuyishan National Park. We found that it resembles P. heterantha Pax but has stolons, 1 line of hears in the stem, smaller leaves, and shorter pedicels. Therefore, we established it as a new species.
All general morphological data were obtained by observation of specimens during fieldworks and AU, FJIDC, IBSC, KUN, LE herbaria. Terminologies used in the present study follows the Flora of China (
China. Fujian: Wuyishan National Park, on rocks along a stream, ca.1700 m a.s.l, 1 May 2019, Xiao Luo et Qiyi Yang20190501 (holotype: FAFU!; isotype: FAFU!)
Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis can be distinguished from P. heterantha by several morphological features and distribution (Table
Morphological comparison of Pseudostellaria wuyishanensis, P. heterantha.
Characters | P. wuyishanensis | P. heterantha |
---|---|---|
Stem | has stolons,branched at apex, 6–7 cm tall,with 1 line of hairs | no stolon, branched at base, 8–15 cm tall, with 2 lines of hairs |
Leaf blade | 1–1.6 × 0.5–0.7 cm | 2–2.5 × 0.8–1.2 cm |
Pedicel | ca.2 cm long | 3–3.5 cm long |
Sepal | abaxially pilose, margin glabrous | abaxially pilose, margin ciliate |
Ovary | 2 styles | 2 or 3 styles |
Distribution | Fujian(Southeastern China) | Northern and Southwestern China |
Plants perennial. Root tubers green, fusiform, 0.4–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 cm. Stem erect, 6–7 cm tall, slender, unbranched at base, apex false dichotomous branched, stoloniferous, with 1 line of hairs. Leaves opposite, entire, 1–1.6 × 0.5–0.7 cm; proximal middle leaves oblanceolate, base attenuate into a petiole, apex acute; distal leaves ovate, shortly petiolate, membranous, both surfaces glabrous, the adaxial green, the abaxial viridescent, apex acute, usually with mucro ca.0.5 mm, sparsely ciliate at base, pinnately veined, lateral veins 3–4 pairs, inconspicuous. Chasmogamic flowers terminal or axillary, solitary; pedicel erect, ca. 2 cm long, pilose; sepals 5, green, lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, abaxially slightly pilose, margin membranous, glabrous; petal 5, oblong, slightly longer than sepals, ca. 4 mm, apically emarginate, base with a short claw; stamens 10, shorter than petals, ca. 4 mm; filament glabrous; anthers purple-red, reniform; ovary coniform, ca. 2 × 0.9 mm, with 2 thin styles to 3 mm, revolute, longer than the ovary, ovules numerous. Cleistogamous flowers and fruits not seen.
The new species is endemic to the Wuyishan National Park, Fujian Province. The plant grows in the deciduous broad-leaved forest at 2000 m in elevation. The dominant species of the community include Pinus taiwanensis Hayata (Pinaceae), Lithocarpus harlandii (Hance) Rehder (Fagaceae), Buxus sinica var. parvifolia M. Cheng (Buxaceae), Veratrum schindleri Loes (Melanthiaceae), and Dichocarpum franchetii (Finet&Gagnepain) W.T. Wang & Hsiao (Ranunculaceae).
Flowers were observed in June.
There is only one known location and fewer than 50 individuals of P. wuyishanensis found during our fieldworks in the Wuyishan National Park in both 2019 and 2020. But the investigation has not been through enough to fully understand the species natural distribution. According to IUCN Red List criteria (2012), this new species should be assessed as Data Deficient (DD; criteria B1ab(i–v) + 2ab(i–v)).
The specific epithet ‘wuyishanensis’ refers to Wuyishan National Park, the locality of the type collection.
The new species morphologically resembles P. heterantha in the leaf shape, terminal chasmogamous flowers with pilose pedicel, and white emarginate petal. The two taxa differ in that the stem of P. wuyishanensis is shorter, conspicuously stoloniferous, apex false dichotomous branched, and only has 1 line of hairs, while that of P. heterantha is longer, solitary, branched at base, and has 2 line of hairs; the leaf blades of P. wuyishanensis is smaller and the pedicel is shorter.(Table
We only found two Pseudostellaria sp. specimens, IBSC 0149273 and IBSC 0149274 (Fig.
1 | Seeds with persistent anchor-shaped barb | Pseudostellaria rupestris |
– | Seeds with awned tubercles | 2 |
2 | Stems with apical 2 pairs of leaves larger, approximate, decussate | P. heterophylla |
– | Stems not as above | 3 |
3 | Chasmogamic flowers with petals apex 2-lobed | 4 |
– | Chasmogamic flowers with petals apex entire, sometimes emarginate | 7 |
4 | Root tubers several in a row | 5 |
– | Root tubers solitary | 6 |
5 | All leaves linear or lanceolate-linear, sessile | P. sylvatica |
– | All leaves narrow elliptic-lanceolate, with short petiole | P. tianmushanensis |
6 | Chasmogamic flowers with sepals 4, petals 4,stamens 8 | P. helanshanensis |
– | Chasmogamic flowers with sepals 5, petals 5, stamens 10 | P. japonica |
7 | Chasmogamic flowers with sepals glabrous | P. tibetica |
– | Chasmogamic flowers with sepals abaxially pubescent | 8 |
8 | Stem repent | 9 |
– | Stem erect | 10 |
9 | Leaves pubescent in both side; seeds flat, with narrow wings | P. zhejiangensis |
– | Leaves ciliate; seeds reniform or subglobose | P. davidii |
10 | Stem pubescent; Leaves both surfaces pubescent | P. himalaica |
– | Stems with 1 or 2 line of hairs; base of the leaves sparsely ciliate | 11 |
11 | Stem has stolons, with 1 line of hairs; pedicel short, ca. 2 cm | P. wuyishanensis (sp. nov.) |
– | Stem has 2 line of hairs; pedicel longer than 3 cm | 12 |
12 | Petals spatulate or obovate | P. maximowicziana |
– | Petals oblong-oblanceolate | P. heterantha |
We thank the reviewers for their extensively helpful comments. This study was supported by the National Special Fund for Chinese medicine resources Research in the Public Interest of China (No. 2019-39) and Wuyishan forest germplasm resources investigation[[350782]FJXW[GK]2018004].