Carex fatsuaniana X.F.Jin, Y.F.Lu & Z.C.Lu, 2023

Lu, Yi-Fei, Lu, Zhao-Cen, Duan, Yu-Hao, Zhang, Kun & Jin, Xiao-Feng, 2023, Notes on Carex (Cyperaceae) from China (IX): three new species of section Mitratae s. l., PhytoKeys 225, pp. 153-164 : 153

1. Carex fatsuaniana X.F.Jin, Y.F.Lu & Z.C.Lu sp. nov.

Fig. 1A-G

Diagnostic description.

This new species is similar to Carex truncatigluma C.B.Clarke, but differs in having utricles nearly glabrous, nutlets with a ca. 0.5 mm long beak at apex, staminate spikes cylindrical, 5-7.5 cm long, 4-5 mm wide, and pistillate glumes acuminate at apex.

Type.

China. Yunnan: Foo-ning [Funing County], Ban-loun [Banlun Township], under dense-thickets, alt. 700 m, 10 Apr 1940, C. W. Wang 88293 (holotype: PE!; isotypes: IBK00181423!, PE!) .

Description.

Perennial herbs. Rhizomes woody, obliquely ascending. Culms lateral, 45-60 cm tall, trigonous, smooth, base with short leaves and brown fibrous sheaths. Leaves longer than culms, blades flat, leathery, 4.5-9 mm wide, scabrous on upper surfaces and margins. Bracts leaf-like or shortly leaf-like, base with 1-2.5 cm long sheath. Spikes 6; terminal spike staminate, cylindrical, 5-7.5 cm long, 4-5 mm wide, base with 8-20 mm long peduncles; lateral spikes pistillate, cylindrical, 2.5-4.5 cm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, densely flowered, with peduncles exserted from or enclosed in sheaths. Staminate glumes elliptic-lanceolate or oblanceolate, pale brown, 7-7.5 mm long, apex acuminate, with 3-veined yellow-brown costa. Pistillate glumes ovate-elliptic or obovate, pale yellow, 2.5-3 mm long, apex acuminate and mucronate, or acute, with 3-veined yellow-brown costa. Utricles yellow-green, narrowly ellipsoid-ovoid, obtusely trigonous, 4-4.5 mm long, longer than pistillate glumes, membranous, obliquely patent, distinctly thinly veined, nearly glabrous, base gradually cuneate, short-stipitate, apex gradually contracted into a ca. 1 mm long beak, orifice 2-lobed with short teeth. Nutlets tightly enveloped, brown, ovoid, trigonous, 2.5-3 mm long, with 3 sides slightly concave below, base short-stipitate, apex contracted into a ca. 0.5 mm long cylindrical beak; style base slightly thickened; stigmas 3.

Etymology.

The specific epithet ' fatsuaniana ' is in honour of Prof. Fa-Tsuan Wang (Fa-Zuan Wang, 1899-1985), the taxonomic founder of Chinese monocots.

Phenology.

Flowering and fruiting occur in early April.

Conservation status.

Data Deficient (DD). Only four sheets (C. W. Wang 88293) of the new species were collected by Chi-Wu Wang in 1940 from the type locality. Adequate information is lacking on its distribution and population status to make a direct or indirect assessment of the risk of extinction ( IUCN 2019).

Notes.

Carex fatsuaniana has nutlets contracted distally into a ca. 0.5 mm long cylindrical beak at the apex, which morphologically belongs to sect. Carex Lageniformes and is similar to C. truncatigluma ( Dai et al. 2010). In sect. Carex Lageniformes , the species has terminal staminate spikes thinly linear-clavate, whereas those of the new species are cylindrical, 5-7.5 cm long, 4-5 mm wide. The characters distinguishing the new species from C. truncatigluma are shown in Table 1 .

Based on the phylogenetic scaffold for the Carex classification ( Roalson et al. 2021), the sampled species in sect. Carex Lageniformes were arranged in two clades: Carex breviscapa and C. longicolla in Tristachya clade, and Carex truncatigluma in Truncatigluma clade, but C. densipilosa was placed in the uncertain group. The new species, Carex fatsuaniana , is mostly closed to C. truncatigluma in morphology, so it’s temporarily placed in the Truncatigluma clade.

Figures

Figure 1. Carex fatsuaniana sp. nov. A habit B staminate glume C, D pistillate glume E utricle F nutlet. (Drawn by Xiao-Feng Jin; based on the holotype: C. W. Wang 88293 in PE).