Aspidistra lingchuanensis C.R.Lin & L.F.Guo, 2015

Guo, Lun-Fa, Han, Meng-Qi, Bin, Zhu-Fang & Lin, Chun-Rui, 2015, Aspidistra lingchuanensis (Asparagaceae), a new species from Guangxi, China, Phytotaxa 195 (1), pp. 86-89 : 86-88

Aspidistra lingchuanensis C.R.Lin & L.F.Guo , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 )

Type: — CHINA. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Lingchuan County, Lantian town , 25°38’9’’N, 110°10’7’’E, alt. 287 m, 22 March 2013, Lingchuan traditional Chinese medicine resources Investigation Team 450323130322085 (holotype, IBK!; isotype, IBK!)

Herbs perennial, evergreen, rhizomatous. Rhizome creeping, subterete, 6–8 mm thick, covered with scales, nodes dense. Vaginal leaves 6–8, 2–15 cm long, pale green, enveloping base of petiole, becoming black-brown when dry. Leaves 3–4-tufted; petiole 18–23 cm long, 2–3 mm thick, adaxially sulcate; leaf blade linear, 60–82 cm long, 1.8–3 cm wide, dark green, basally gradually tapering to petiole, apex acuminate, midvein distinct, margin serrulate near apex. Peduncle decumbent or declining, 1.5–4 cm long, with 5–6 bracts, distal 3 or 4 close to flower; the two bracts at the base of perigone broadly ovate, white with purplish red spots, ca. 10 mm long, 15–18 mm wide, apex subobtuse. Flowers numerous, densely arranged; perigone urceolar, fleshy, 6-lobed apically; lobes slightly excurved, white with numerous small purplish red spots, broadly ovate, 6–8 mm long and wide at base, distinctly 2-whorled, margin erose, subobtuse at apex; tube 11–13 mm long, greatest diameter 20–22 mm, the opening reduced to 8–9 mm in diam., abaxially white and with purplish red spots with increasing density from base to top, adaxially blackish purple, the mouth of the tube densely papillate, with 12 keels running down to the middle of the tube. Stamens 6, opposite to lobes, inserted at ca. 2 mm from the base of perigone tube, significantly lower than stigma; anther pale yellow, subglobose, ca. 2 mm long and wide, filaments ca. 1 mm long. Pistil mushroom-shaped, ca. 7 mm long, ovary indistinct, style cylindrical, 2–3 mm long, stigma peltate, rounded hexagon, ca. 15 mm in diam., cream-white, upper surface glabrous, the central part slightly convex, its margin purplish red and slightly 3-lobed, slightly bent upwards. Flowering from March to April.

Distribution and ecology: —This new species is currently known only from Qingshitan Natural Reserve, Lantian town, Lingchuan County in northern Guangxi, China. It grows under evergreen broad-leaved forest, in the river valley at 240–350 m altitude.

Taxonomic relationships: — Aspidistra lingchuanensis is similar to A. caespitosa Pei (1939: 101) in the leaves linear and perigone urceolar, but differs by the perigone lobes broadly ovate, distinctly 2-whorled, margin erose; the mouth of the tube adaxially densely papillate, and with keels running down to the middle of the tube; stigma margin slightly bent upwards. Aspidistra lingchuanensis is also similar to A. minutiflora Stapf (1903: 113) , however, the latter species differs in its flower smaller, perigone lobes monocyclic and margin entire, stigma upper surface purplish and with 3 radial, bifurcate lines in center. Detailed comparison of the three species is presented in Table 1.

Additional specimen studied (paratype):— CHINA. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Lingchuan County,

Lantian town, 25°38’9’’N, 110°10’7’’E, alt. 287 m, 26 March 2014, Lun-Fa Guo 1401 (paratype, IBK!).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aspidistra lingchuanensis. A. flowering plant. B. perigone, dissected to show stamens and pistil. C. stigma, upper view. D. stigma, abaxial view. Drawn by Wen-Hong Lin.

FIGURE 2. Aspidistra lingchuanensis. A. flowers. B. habitat. C. buds. D. flower, side view. E. perigone, dissected to show stamens. F. pistil. G. stigma, upper view. H. stigma, abaxial view.