Aspidistra dentosa C.R. Lin & Yan Liu, 2024

Lin, Chun-Rui, Nguyen, Khang Sinh, Qin, Ying, Zou, Chun-Yu, Xu, Wei-Bin & Liu, Yan, 2024, Six new species of Aspidistra (Asparagaceae: Convallarioideae) from China and Vietnam, Phytotaxa 671 (3), pp. 231-246 : 232-234

1. Aspidistra dentosa C.R. Lin & Yan Liu , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Type:— CHINA. Guangxi: type herbarium specimens prepared from cultivated plant, 7 May 2022, Chun-Rui Lin 1520 (holotype: IBK, isotype: IBK). Living plants were collected by Gao Xie from Baise City, Jingxi City, Xinjing Town, Longli Village, limestone hills, at elevation about 820 m a.s.l., 1 August 2021.

Additional specimen examined (paratype):— CHINA. Guangxi: Baise City, Jingxi City, Xinjing Town, Longli Village, limestone hills, at elevation about 820 m a.s.l., 1 August 2021, Gao Xie 1424 ( IBK).

Diagnosis:— The new species is mostly similar to A. pulchella in shape and color of leaves and flowers, but clearly distinguished by its longer peduncle 9–18 cm, narrowly triangular perianth lobes 14–22 mm long, toothlike appendage white, stigma upper surface with 4 (3) inconspicuous radial, white, elliptical petal-shaped patterns converging at the center.

Herbs perennial, evergreen. Rhizome creeping, epigeous, subterete, 10–15 mm in diameter, densely covered with nodes, roots numerous. Leaf sheath 5–6, purplish red, to 18 cm long, enveloping base of petiole, fibrous when withered. Leaves solitary, 1–2.5 cm spaced; petiole rigid, 16–48 cm long, 2–3 mm in diameter, adaxially sulcate; leaf blade broadly ovate to ovate, 15–32 cm long, 8–16 cm wide, green, base suborbicular, abruptly narrowed to the petiole, inequilateral, apex acuminate, margin entire, midvein moderately prominent abaxially, each half of leaf blade with 5–6 inconspicuous secondary veins. Peduncle elongates and horizontal, purplish red, 9–18 cm long, with 7–8 bracts, bracts gradually widened from below, two of them adnate to flower base, broadly ovate, 8–12 mm long, 15–20 mm wide, purplish red, apex obtuse. Flower solitary. Perianth urceolate, fleshy, outside purplish red to dark purplish red, deeply 8 (6) lobed apically; lobes explanate, narrowly triangular, 14–22 mm long and 5–8 mm wide at base, inside yellow, frequently with purplish-red speckles at base, apex attenuate, each lobe basally with an adaxial toothlike appendage, appendages white, 3–4 mm long and 4–6 mm wide, apex erose; tube 10–14 mm long, widest part 22–28 mm in diameter, inside deep purplish red to nearly black, with 8 inconspicuous keels from the stamen bases running up to the mouth of perianth tube. Stamens 8 (6), opposite to lobes, inserted at ca. 3 mm from the base of perianth tube, positioned conspicuously lower than stigma; anthers subsessile, elliptical, 2–3 mm long and 1–1.5 wide, pollen yellow; Pistil 6–9 mm long, ovary indistinct, style cylindrical, short, 2–3 mm long, 3–4 mm in diameter, stigma disc-shaped, enlarge, 18–24 mm in diameter, 4–6 mm thick, upper surface nearly flat, white, the central part converging with 4 inconspicuous radial, elliptical patterns, its margin purplish red to dark purple and bent upwards, with 16 (12) longitudinal ribs, lower surface white. Young fruit subglobose, 10–15 mm in diameter, purplish red, surface irregular tuberculate.

Phenology:— The new species was observed flowering from May to June, fruiting mature in the next year from April to May.

Etymology:— The specific epithet ‘ dentosa ’ is derived from the toothlike appendages at the base of perianth lobes. The Chinese name is given as “ ffimDzuDzã ” (Chinese pinyin: chǐ bàn zhī zhū bào dàn).

Distribution and ecology:— This new species is currently found only in Jingxi City, southwestern Guangxi, China, near the border with northern Vietnam. It grows on limestone slopes, in crevices of the stones on shady places, at elevation of 800–850 m a.s.l., not common.

Similar species:— The morphology showed the new species is mostly similar to Aspidistra pulchella B.M. Wang & Yan Liu in Lin et al. (2019: 80), but clearly distinguished by its longer peduncle 9–18 cm (vs. 4–6 cm), perianth lobes 8 and occasionally 6 (vs. 10 and occasionally 8), shorter to 14–22 mm (vs. 30–35 mm), toothlike appendage white (vs. pale purplish red to purplish red), stigma upper surface with 4 or 3 inconspicuous radial, white, elliptical patterns (vs. with conspicuous 5 or 4 radial, purplish red, bifurcate stripes) converging at the center.

The new species is also similar to A. longipetala S. Z. Huang (1986: 273) and A. marginella D. Fang & L. Zeng in Fang et al. (1993: 182), but differs from the latter two species by higher and bigger leaves and longer peduncle, perianth lobes explanate (vs. incurve) and bigger perianth tube, stigma nearly flat (vs. slightly concave or obviously convex). The detailed morphological differences between these species are shown in Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aspidistra dentosa: (A) habit; (B) flowers; (C) leaves; (D) flower longitudinally dissected showing stamens and pistil; (E) bud; (F) toothlike appendages at the base of perianth lobes; (G) pistil; (H) young fruit; (I) flower side view; (I) stigma top view; (K) stigma bottom view.