Aspidistra latistyla F.Y.Mo, C.R.Lin & Yan Liu, 2021

Mo, Fu-Yan, Zhang, Shou-Zhou, Lin, Chun-Rui & Liu, Yan, 2021, Aspidistra latistyla (Asparagaceae), a new species from China, Phytotaxa 512 (1), pp. 73-78 : 73-76

Aspidistra latistyla F.Y.Mo, C.R.Lin & Yan Liu sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 )

Aspidistra latistyla is similar to A. longipetala S.Z. Huang (1986: 273) and A. guangxiensis S.C.Tang & Y.Liu (2003: 480) in the shape of flowers, but it can be easily distinguished from them mainly by leaves with longer petiole 40–58 cm long (vs. 6–7 cm long and 14–40 cm long, respectively), perianth lobes shorter than tube (vs. longer), the perianth tube cylindrical to campanulate (vs. campanulate or subglobose, respectively), stamens inserted at the upper-middle of the perianth tube (vs. at the base and at the proximal 1/3 of perianth tube, respectively) (see Table 1 ).

Type:— CHINA. Guangdong: Shenzhen, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden , Shade Garden , hillside, evergreen broad-leaved forests, 22°34’25.39’’ N, 114°10’20.47’’ E, elev. 80 m, cultivated, 6 March 2019, Fu-yan Mo & Chun-rui Lin, XH 2019-001 (holotype SZG! , isotype IBK! ).

Herbs perennial, evergreen, rhizomatous. Rhizome creeping, subterete, 10–15 mm in diameter, covered with scales, nodes dense. Roots numerous. Vaginal leaves 5–6, purple-red, 2–18 cm long, enveloping base of petiole, becoming black-brown when dry. Leaves solitary, 2–3.5 cm apart; petiole stiff upright, 40–58 cm long, 2–3 mm thick, adaxially sulcate; leaf blade dark green with yellowish-green spots, lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate, 30–42 cm long, 8–12 cm wide, with strong, prominent midvein and 5–8 secondary veins at both sides of the midvein, base cuneate, gradually tapered to petiole, inequilateral, apex long acuminate, margin entire. Peduncle decumbent, green to pale purple or purple-red spotted, 8–30 mm long, bracts 5–6, gradually wider from base to the top of peduncle, broadly ovate, concave, rather fleshy, densely with dark purplish red spotted, 8–10 mm long, 14–16 mm wide, apex obtuse. Flower solitary, at the top of peduncle, perianth cylindrical campanulate, slightly 8-lobed apically, fleshy, purple-red mottled to purple-red outside, 20–24 mm long, tube 12–14 mm long, 9–11 mm in diameter, inside yellowish-white, distally sparsely purplish red mottled, lobes suberect, subequal, triangular-lanceolate, 8–10 mm long, 2–3 mm wide at base, inside yellowish white, apex gradually acuminate and usually turns inward, each lobe basally with an adaxial, toothlike appendage, 2–2.5 mm long and 2–3 mm wide, appendages protruding horizontally over perianth tube and reducing the opening to 5–6 mm in diameter. Stamens 8, opposite to lobes, subsessile, inserted in the upper-middle of perianth tube, anthers oblong, ca. 4 mm long and 2 mm wide, distally reaching or just above level of stigma, pollen sacs introrse, dehiscing by a slit, pollen yellow. Pistil 9–11 mm long, ovary inconspicuous, style short, ca. 1 mm long and 2 mm in diameter, stigma enlarged, cylindrical, 8–10 mm long, 7–9 mm in diameter, yellowish white and distally sparsely purplish red mottled, upper surface slightly concave, white and often with irregular purplish red speckled markings in center, its margin with longitudinally 16-ribs which alternated with different sizes each other. Fruit subglobose, dark purple at maturity, 10–15 mm in diameter, tuberculate, seeds 3–5, subglobose.

Phenology:— Flowering in cultivation from February to April, fruiting in April to May of the following year.

Etymology:—The specific epithet refers to the enlarged cylindrical pistils.

Distribution and ecology:— Aspidistra latistyla is currently known only from Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in Shenzhen City, Guangdong province, China. It grows on hillside, evergreen broad-leaved forests. Nearly 40 years ago, it was introduced and cultivated in Fairy Lake Botanical Garden when it was just established, but the place where it was originally collected and the collector have not been recorded. In recent decades, we have not found this plant during field investigations. Further fieldwork aimed at finding at wild population will be needed in order to exclude its extinct in the wild. The Fairy-Lake plant fortuitously may provide a stock for ex situ conservation.

Aspidistra latistyla has been cultivated along with A. longipetala and A. minutiflora Stapf (1903: 113) under the same environmental conditions at the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, where their floral differences hold true. Furthermore, it flowers regularly and may be propagated easily by vegetative division. We collected material of A. latistyla at the botanical garden in 2020 and 2021, and observed the floral structure to be the same as that of the type material collected in 2019. This demonstrates that the distinctness of A. latistyla from A. longipetala is not an artifact due to cultivation and that the diagnostic floral characters of the new species are constant.

Additional specimens examined (paratype):— CHINA. Guangxi: cultivated in Guilin Botanical Garden , Guilin city, Yanshan township , introduced from the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, 7 April 2019, Chun-rui Lin & Zhao-cen Lu 1301 ( IBK!) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aspidistra latistyla. A, habit; B, perianth, dissected to show stamens and pistil; C, pistil; D, stigma, adaxial view; E, fruit. (Drawn by Wen-Hong Lin from the holotype).

FIGURE 2. Aspidistra latistyla. A, habit; B–C, fruit; D–E, flowers; F, perianth, dissected to show stamens and pistil; G, pistil; H, stigma, adaxial view.