Bulbophyllum guniuensis W.Y. Ni & J.W. Shao, 2022

Zhang, Si-Yu, Zhu, Ke-Run, Yan, Qi, Wu, Wei, Wang, Bo-Rui, Ni, Wei-Yong & Shao, Jian-Wen, 2022, Bulbophyllum guniuensis (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae; Malaxideae), a new species from Eastern China, Phytotaxa 543 (1), pp. 82-88 : 82-86

Bulbophyllum guniuensis W.Y. Ni & J.W. Shao , sp. nov. (牯牛石ā兰, Figs. 1 , 2 )

Diagnosis:— Bulbophyllum guniuensis is similar to Bulbophyllum henanense J. L. Lu (1992: 331) in sharing small pseudobulbs, ovoid oblong leaves, and margin fimbriate-ciliate dorsal sepal, but can be distinguished from it by having longer scape, short and straight side lateral sepals, ovate-triangular petals and ligulate lip.

Type:— CHINA. Anhui: Qimen County, Chiling Township, Guniujiang National Nature Reserve , on the stone, under the evergreen broad-leaved forest, elev. 368 m, 28 May 2021, Wei-Yong Ni, Si-Yu Zhang, Ke-Run Zhu, Zheng Jiang & Hao-Tian Wang ANUB08615 (holotype ANUB02284 ; isotype ANUB02285 , PE02354810 ) .

Description:— Epiphytic or lithophytic herbs. Rhizome creeping, 1 mm in diam., growing from the base of the pseudobulbs. Pseudobulbs 3–6 mm apart along the rhizome, near spherical, slightly ribbed, ca. 5 mm in diam., with 1 leathery leaf on top. Leaf ovate-oblong, 1–1.5 × 0.5–0.8 cm, sunken midrib, apex obtuse, base narrowing into a 1 mm long petiole. Scape from the base of pseudobulb, erect, 4–6 cm long, raceme shortened, umbel-like, 4–6 flowered. Flowers pale yellow to orange yellow. Bracts membranous, lanceolate, 0.5–1 mm long. Ovary and pedicel 6–8 mm, glabrous. Dorsal sepal ovate-triangular, 4 × 3 mm, apex acuminate, margin fimbriate-ciliate, 3-veined; lateral sepals oblique oblong, 5–6 × 2–3 mm, base adnate to column foot, tip caudate, separate from each other. Petals white, obliquely ovate-triangular, 3 × 2 mm, apex acuminate, margin fimbriate-ciliate, 3-veined. Lip ligulate, fleshy, slightly curved, with orange edges and yellow inside, ca. 3 mm, blunt tip, rough edges, base attached to end of column-foot by a mobile joint; Column ca. 1.5 mm, with 2 extremely small mastoid on the upper part, stelidia subulate, slender, ca. 0.8 mm; anther cap with many dentate projections. Pollinia 4, in 2 pairs.

Etymology:— The specific epithet is from the locality of type, Guniujiang National Nature Reserve.

Phenology:— Flowering period from May to June, fruiting period in July.

Distribution and habitat:— Found in Guniujiang National Nature Reserve, Qimen County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, China ( Fig. 3 ). It grows on rocks in an evergreen broad-leaved forest at elevation of 300–400 meters, and accompanied by Deutzia ningpoensis Rehd. , Cyclobalanopsis glauca (Thunberg) Oersted , Distylium myricoides Hemsl. and Lilium anhuiense D.C.Zhang & J.Z.Shao etc.

Conservation status:— At present, we have only found a population in Guniujiang National Nature Reserve, covering an area of about 3 square meters, with a preliminary estimate of nearly 3,000 pseudobulbs. The author transplanted about 10 plants on the rockery in the management station of Guniujiang Nature Reserve and observed for 2 years. The growth is good, indicating that this species has a relatively tenacious vitality. Due to the small size of the plant, the growing area is relatively hidden, and when not flowering, it looks very similar to Lemmaphyllum drymoglossoides (Baker) Ching , and is easily overlooked. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there are other unknown populations in the wild. For these reasons, we classified its conservation status as Data Deficient (DD), according to the IUCN Red List Criteria (IUCN 2019).

Taxonomic note:— Generally, Bulbophyllum guniuensis is morphologically close to B. henanense . In addition, B. guniuensis and B. hirundinis (Gagnep.) Seidenf. (1973: 76) are somewhat similar in petals, lip and column (Seidenfaden 1973). The morphological comparison between these three species were summarized in Table 1 & Fig. 4 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bulbophyllum guniuensis W.Y. Ni & J.W. Shao. A: Habitat; B: Pseudobulbs; C: Inflorescence, front view; D: Inflorescence, side view; E: Flower, front view; F-a: Stelidia; F-b: Lip, side view; F-c, Ovary; G-a: Dorsal sepal; G-b: Petals; G-c: Lateral sepals; H: Anther cap & pollinia; I: Gynostemium (side view) & lip (front view); J: Flower, side view (one lateral sepal and petal removed); K: Flowering plant.

FIGURE 2. Bulbophyllum guniuensis W.Y.Ni & J.W. Shao.A: Flowering plant; B: Pseudobulbs; C: Ovary, gynostemium & lip; D: Sepals & petals; E: Anther cap; F: Pollinia.

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Bulbophyllum guniuensis and similar species—●Bulbophyllum guniuensis; ■B. henanense; ▲B. hirundinis.

FIGURE 4. Comparison morphology of Bulbophyllum guniuensis and similar species. A & D-a. B. guniuensis; B & D-b. B. henanense; C & D-c. B. hirundinis. Scale bars = 2 cm.