Research Article |
Corresponding author: Qing Liu ( liuqing@cib.ac.cn ) Corresponding author: Hai He ( hehai@cqnu.edu.cn ) Academic editor: Mark P. Simmons
© 2022 Jun Hu, Jun-Yi Zhang, Ding-Xiang Yu, Hong Jiang, Bo Xu, Qing Liu, Hai He.
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:
Hu J, Zhang J-Y, Yu D-X, Jiang H, Xu B, Liu Q, He H (2022) Euonymus aquifolium (Celastraceae): Rediscovered in flowering with respect to its taxonomy, nomenclature, and rarity. PhytoKeys 201: 139-151. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.201.86180
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A small population of Euonymus aquifolium (Celastraceae) with flowering plants was discovered more than 100 kilometers away from its type locality. The incomplete original description of this species is supplemented here with floral materials since it is known from only two gatherings of fruiting specimens. Its 5-merous flowers and two ovules per locule support its position in Euonymus, and this inference is further reinforced by phylogenetic analysis based on the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of rDNA. The specific epithet has long been treated as “aquifolius” to agree with the generic gender of Euonymus. But after examination of the protologues of this and other related species described simultaneously by the same authors, as well as their handwritten annotations attached on the type specimens, we conclude that the epithet aquifolium was used as a noun and it should be retained unchanged. Despite this newly discovered population some 100 kilometers away from its type locality, this species is still assessed as Critical Endangered (CR) according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.
endemic species, Euonymus aquifolium, flora of China, floral character, Glyptopetalum, nomenclature, taxonomy
Euonymus aquifolium Loes. & Rehder in
Based on uncertain observations on the fruiting materials, the type specimens (from the description in the protologue) and P. N. Qin et al. 104, Cheng & Ma in
In August 2021, during a field trip of the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition in Jiulong County, Sichuan, Southwest China, an area located along the southeastern slope of Mt. Gongga (Minya Konka, the main peak of Hengduan Mountain), a small-sized population of ca. 15 individuals of Euonymus aquifolium was unexpectedly encountered by Jun Hu (the first author of this article) and his team members. Some plants were in flower, and the 5-merous flowers instantly reject its identity as a member of Glyptopetalum. To better understand this species, its morphological description was thereafter expanded with the observation of living plants and dissection of floral parts. To test whether its generic position inferred using floral characters correspond to the molecular data, a phylogenetic analysis was conducted by incorporating data from published studies with the addition of samples of this species and its morphologically closest species, Glyptopetalum ilicifolium (
Euonymus aquifolium was observed as living individuals in the field, and dried herbarium specimens were observed in laboratory, where morphological characters were measured using ImageJ v1.53 k (
Apart from the newly generated data of Euonymus aquifolium and Glyptopetalum ilicifolium in this study, all of the other sequences of the 62 samples representing 51 species in molecular phylogenetic analysis were retrieved from GenBank. The accessions are listed in Appendix I. Total DNA was extracted exclusively from silica-gel dried leaves using a Plant DNA Isolation Kit (Cat.No.DE-06111). The same primers and outgroups were used as the phylogenetic analysis of Euonymus by
All sequences were processed with Sequencher v4.1.4 (Gene Codes, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA), and aligned by using MAFFT v7.475 (
From the field observation, the general morphology of Euonymus aquifolium (Figs
Euonymus aquifolium Loes. & Rehder A habitat B habit on cliff C branch with a flower D a flower and an immature fruit E axillary inflorescence F extra-axillary inflorescence G leaves in adaxial (G1) and abaxial views (G2) H an inflorescence showing peduncle (H1) and pedicel (H2) I close-up of a flower and an immature fruit (I1), showing disk and calyx (I2), a detached petal (I3), an immature fruit in side view (I4) and front view (I5), and two immature seeds in a fertile locule with the lower right one covered by aril.
Euonymus aquifolium Loes. & Rehder A flowering and fruiting branches B leaves in abaxial view C a flower in side view D a flower in rear view showing abaxial calyx, attached pedicel and a pair of bracteoles at its base E a flower in front view F a flower with petals removed showing disk G a detached petal H an immature fruit in front view I an immature fruit in side view [Drawn by Cong-Ying Li from live specimens J. Hu et al. hujun20210810B01].
With the addition of newly generated Euonymus aquifolium and Glyptopetalum ilicifolium sequences, the molecular phylogenetic tree revealed overall similar resolution (BI / ML = 1 / 100; Fig.
Bayesian and ML-based phylogenetic tree inferred from nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the 51 sampled taxa identified as species of Euonymus and/or Glyptopetalum. Values above branches are Bayesian posterior probabilities (> 0.5) / maximum likelihood bootstrap percentages (> 50). Colors of terminal nodes correspond to the five sections of Euonymus defined in Flora of China (
In summary, the results of both floral morphological observation and molecular analysis support its retention in Euonymus.
≡ Glyptopetalum aquifolium (Loes. & Rehder) C.Y.Cheng & Q.S.Ma in
China. Sichuan [Szechuan]: Wa-shan, on cliffs, elev. ca. 2200 m, in fruiting, November 1908, E. H. Wilson 1366 (holotype A00049691 (Fig.
Evergreen shrubs, 1–3 m tall, glabrous throughout; young branches firstly 4-angular and green, later turning almost terete and grey-brown. Leaves opposite, leaf blade leathery, oblongly ovate, ovate to orbicularly ovate, 4–7 × 2.5–4.5 cm, uneven on both surfaces, adaxially dark green, abaxially slightly pale green, glossy, margin with clear and irregular large spines, apex acute or short acuminate, base slightly cordate and often marginally clasping the branch, more or less oblique; lateral veins 6–10 pairs, curved and distally ca. 1/4 its length near margin connected with tertiary veins, midrib and lateral veins visibly elevated on both surfaces, transverse veins obscure; subsessile or petiole to 2 mm long. Cymes in leaf axils or extra-axillary, nearly on the adaxial side of branchlet when extra-axillary, with 1 to several (mostly 5–7) flowers; peduncle 1.5–5 cm long; pedicel 0.6–1.2 cm long, usually with two opposite bracteoles at base; bracteoles subulate, 0.4–0.8 cm long, ca. 2 mm wide, persistent. Flowers red-brown, 1–1.5 cm in diameter, 5-merous; calyx 5-lobed to middle, lobes triangular, red-brown, margin with fleshy projections, persistent; petals 5, fleshy, 0.5–0.8 cm long, 0.3–0.6 cm wide, broad-ovate, slightly revolute; disc pentagonal, deep red, fused to ovary; stamens 5 on disk, filaments very short, anthers small and yellow; ovary partly exposed outside disk, reddish brown, style absent, stigma rounded, white with yellowish tinge; ovary 5-locular; ovules 2 per locule. Capsule, subglobose, mostly yellowish green when immature, glabrous, 8–10 mm high, 1.2–1.5 cm in diameter, 5-loculed, sometimes only 4(–2)-loculed owing to infertile of one or more locules, with 2 seeds per locule, or only one seed with another ovule aborted. Seeds brown, oblong, 0.4–0.8 cm long, with orange-yellow aril, more than 1/2 covered by aril.
Flowering was observed in August, and it could start earlier; fruiting from August to November.
The newly discovered site (elevation ca. 1850 m) is located under the cliff of a small ditch in the Dadu River Basin. The place is located in the so-called ‘Rain Zone of Western China’, where it is commonly rainy most of the year. The habitat is further shady and humid due to the gorge landform (Fig.
China. Sichuan: Jiulong County, Wanba, elev. ca. 1850 m, in flowering, 10 August 2021, J. Hu et al. hujun20210810B01 (CDBI! NAS! PE!) (Fig.
The species epithet of Euonymus aquifolium had been changed to “aquifolius” to agree with the generic gender based on the assumption that this epithet was used as adjectival in form, and this was generally followed (e.g.,
The type material of Euonymus aquifolium was collected by E. H. Wilson in November 1908 in Washan, Sichuan. Further geographical information concerning the type locality could not be traced by the related references (such as
Another gathering (P. N. Qin et al. 104) identified as this species is recorded in
We conclude that Euonymus aquifolium is a rare and vegetatively distinctive species, and this rediscovery uncovered the only presently confirmed living individuals more than 110 years after its description, which are distributed more than 100 km westward from its type locality (Fig.
We thank Lin-Rui Wang (Yibin University) and Feng Tang (Yibin Uuniversity) for their help during the fieldwork, Ji-Nan Liu for providing distribution information, Cong-Ying Li (China National Geographic Magazine) for preparing the line drawing, Da-Lin Zhu (CDBI) for taking some photos of the microstructure. Yu Feng (CDBI) and Liang Zhang (KUN) are thanked for helping to find some of the literature concerning the phylogenetic studies of Euonymus. We are also indebted to Feng Chen (
Taxon, GenBank accession No. for ITS. |
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Euonymus acanthocarpa Franch., KF282154; E. aquifolius Loes. & Rehder, OK172405; E. alatus (Thunb.) Sieb, KF282155, KF282156; E. balansae Sprague, KF282157; E. bochii Loes. ex Diels, KF282158; E. carnosus Hemsl., KF282159, KF282160; E. centidens H. Lev., KF282161; E. chenmoui W. C. Cheng, KF282162; E. chuii Handel-Mazzetti, KF282163; E. cornutus Hemsl., KF282164, KF282165; E. dielsiana Loes. ex Diels, KF282166, KF282167; E. dolichopa Merr. ex J. S. Ma, KF282168; E. echinatus Wall., KF282169; E. europaeus L., KF282170; E. frigida Wall., KF282171; E. giraldii Loes. ex Diels, KF282172; E. gracillimus Hemsl., KF282173; E. grandiflora Wall., KF282174; E. hamiltonianus Wall. ex Roxb., KF282175, KF282176; E. heaeracea Champ. ex Benth., KF282177; E. laxiflora Champ. ex Benth., KF282178, KF282179; E. maackii Rupr., KF282180; E. macroptera Rupr., KF282181; E. mengtseanus (Loes.) Sprague, KF282182; E. microcarpa (Oliv. ex Loes) Sprague, KF282183; E. myrianthus Hemsl., KF282184, KF282185, KF282186; E. nanoides Loes. ex Rehder, KF282187; E. nitidus Benth., KF282188; E. oblongifolius Loes. ex Rehder, KF282189, KF282190; E. oxyphyllus Miq., KF282191, KF282192; E. phellomana Loes. ex Diels, KF282193, KF282194; E. porphyreus Loes., KF282195, KF282196; E. sanguinea Loes. ex Diels, KF282197, KF282198; E. semenovii Regel & Herder, KF282199; E.sp., KF282200; E. subsessilis Sprague, KF282201, KF282202; E. theacola C. Y. Cheng ex T. L. Xu & Q. H. Chen, KF282203; E. tingens Wall., KF282204; E. verrucosa Scop., KF282205; E. verrucosoides Loes., KF282206; E. viburnoides Prain, KF282207; E. wilsonii Sprague, KF282208; Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb., KF282209; Glyptopetalum continentale (Chun & How) C. Y. Cheng & J. S. Ma, KF282210; G. pallidifolium (Hayata) Q. R. Liu & S. Y. Meng, KF282192; G. rhytidophyllum (Chun & How) C. Y. Cheng, KF282211; Triperygium regelii Sprague & Takeda, KF282212; T. wilfordii Hook. f., KF282213. |