Magnolia multitepala (R.Z. Zhou & S.G. Jian) C.B. Callaghan & S.K. Png, 2020

Callaghan, Christopher B. & Png, Siak K., 2020, Twenty-six additional new combinations in the Magnolia (Magnoliaceae) of China and Vietnam, PhytoKeys 146, pp. 1-35 : 1

Magnolia multitepala (R.Z. Zhou & S.G. Jian) C.B. Callaghan & S.K. Png comb. nov.

Basionym.

Michelia multitepala R.Z. Zhou & S.G. Jian. In: S.G. Jian et al., Ann. Bot. Fenn. 44: 65, fig. 1 (2007).

Chinese name.

多瓣含笑 meaning "multi-tepalled michelia"

Type.

CHINA. Yunnan Province: Xichou County, Fadou Mountain, in moist evergreen broad-leaved forest, 1300-1500 m, March 2003, R.Z. Zhou 0401 (holotype: IBSC n.v.). Same locality, July 2004, R.Z. Zhou & S.G. Jian 20040701 (paratype: IBSC n.v.).

Michelia macclurei Dandy. In: Xia et al. (2008: 85), p.p. quoad syn. Michelia multitepala R.Z. Zhou & S.G. Jian.

Michelia doltsopa Buch.-Ham. ex DC. In: Sima and Lu (2009: 53) and Sima (2011: 196), both p.p. quoad syn. Michelia multitepala R.Z. Zhou & S.G. Jian.

Note 1.

There is no data or images held at IBSC for the holotype (Huang Xiangxu, pers. comm., July 2019).

Note 2.

The authors of Michelia multitepala noted that it closely resembles M. ingrata B.L. Chen & S.C.Yang and M. macclurei Dandy, but recorded in their comparative diagnosis sufficient morphological differences with these species to substantiate and name Michelia multitepala as a distinct new species. M. multitepala is recorded as a synonym of M. doltsopa Buch.-Ham. ex DC. by the above noted authors. However, in Liu’s classification system of Magnoliaceae ( Liu et al. 2004: 381), both M. macclurei and M. ingrata are placed in Michelia section Anisochlamys Dandy while M. doltsopa is placed in Michelia section Michelia .

Note 3.

Michelia multitepala is sufficiently distinct from M. doltsopa ( Candolle 1818), to justify its species status, as shown by their known differentiating features compiled in Table 4 below. Additionally, M. multitepala is known only to occur at 1300-1500 m on Fadou Mountain in the southeast of Yunnan Province, whereas M. doltsopa occurs between 1500-2300 m throughout its widely dispersed geographical area from Yunnan to N Myanmar, NE India, Bhutan and SE Xiyang ( Liu et al. 2004: 242), or 2100-2500 m from central Nepal and Burma (Myanmar) to Sichuan and Yunnan ( Polunin and Stainton 1999: 19). As a consequence of the substantiation of its specific status, Michelia multitepala is here transferred to Magnolia in accordance with the past reduction of the remaining genera of subfamily Magnolioideae to the genus Magnolia .