Veronica hongii Q.L.Gan, Z.Y.Li & S.Z.Xu, 2023

Xu, Song-Zhi, Gan, Qi-Liang, Ke, Zun-Wei & Li, Zhen-Yu, 2023, Veronica hongii (Plantaginaceae), a new species from Central China, PhytoKeys 220, pp. 59-64 : 59

Veronica hongii Q.L.Gan, Z.Y.Li & S.Z.Xu sp. nov.

Figs 1 , 2

Diagnosis.

Veronica hongii Q.L.Gan, Z.Y.Li & S.Z.Xu is similar to V. henryi Yamazaki in the perennial and diffuse plants, glabrous bracts and calyx and few-flowered racemes, but the new species can be easily distinguished from the latter by the glabrous plant, except pedicels, smaller leaf blades, corolla and seeds, longer and glandular-pubescent pedicels, obovate calyx lobes, broadly ovate capsule and flowering from September to October (see Table 1 ).

Type.

China. Hubei Province: Zhuxi County, Huiwan Town, Chuanfeng Village , on river bank, alt. 361 m, 22 September 2022, Q.L.Gan 3312 (holotype, PE!; isotype, PE!) .

Description.

Herbs perennial, plants diffuse. Stems terete, 5-18 cm long, 1.5-2 mm in diam., green or reddish-brown, glabrous, branched below the middle, branches slender, lower part prostrate and rooting at nodes, distally ascending, internodes 1.5-3 cm long. Leaves opposite, glabrous; petioles 2-6 mm long, lower ones longer, flattened, abaxial side shallowly grooved; leaf blades broadly ovate, 6-18 mm long, 4-13 mm wide, lower ones smaller, base broadly cuneate to rounded; margins shallowly serrate, crenate or subentire, apex acute to rounded; pinnately veined, mid-vein slightly impressed abaxially and prominent adaxially, lateral veins 2-3 on each side of mid-rib and alternate, veinlets inconspicuous. Racemes axillary from upper leaves, with 2-14 alternate flowers; peduncle 2-5 cm long, glabrous; axis 1-6 cm long, glabrous; bracts ovate-lanceolate to narrowly linear; pedicels filiform, straight or slightly incurved, 3-5 mm long at anthesis that elongate to 5-7 mm in fruit, sparsely with multicellular glandular hairs. Calyx glabrous 2-2.5 mm long, 4-parted, ca. 0.2 mm connated at base; lobes obovate, subequal, 1-1.3 mm wide. Corolla white and flushed purplish, with purple stripes, glabrous, rotated, 3.5-4 mm in diam., 4-parted; tube ca. 0.2 mm long; lower lobe smaller, obovate-rhombic, other 3 lobes rhombic, 2.5-3 mm long and wide, all lobes subacute at apex. Stamens 2, adnate to posterior side of corolla tube, slightly shorter than the lobes of corolla, glabrous; filaments white, 2-2.5 mm long; anthers purplish, ovate-oblong, ca. 0.9 mm long. Pistil glabrous; style ca. 2 times as long as the ovary; stigma capitellate; ovary rounded, slightly emarginate at apex. Capsule strongly compressed, broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm long and wide, glabrous, apex obtuse and small-notched, lateral angles rounded. Seeds 5-8, elliptic, ca. 0.3 mm long, flattened and convex on both sides, brown, glabrous.

Phenology.

Flowering and fruiting from September to October.

Distribution and habitat.

The populations of Veronica hongii were known from Chuanfeng Village, Huiwan Town, Zhuxi County, Hubei Province. It grows in grassland on river banks at elevations ca. 361 m.

Etymology.

The species is named in honour of De-Yuan Hong (1937-), a famous botanist at the Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), academician of CAS, who has devoted over 60 years to taxonomic and biosystematic studies of Paeoniaceae , Scrophulariaceae , Plantaginaceae , Campanulaceae , Commelinaceae and many other families, published Plants of China and Flora of Pan-Himalaya.

Conservation assessment.

Based on the present field investigations, Veronica hongii is known from only one population composed of 11 individuals in Chuanfeng Village, Huiwan Town, Zhuxi County, Hubei Province. The provisional conservation status is Critically Endangered (CR), based on criteria D (number of mature individuals fewer than 50) ( IUCN 2022).

Paratypes.

China. Hubei Province: Zhuxi County, Huiwan Town, Chuanfeng Village, on river bank, alt. 361 m, 22 September 2022, Q.L.Gan3313 (PE!).

Figures

Figure 1. Veronica hongii sp. nov. A, B flowering plants C, H lower part of stem D roots E, G flowering branches F young branches I upper part of stem J leaf blades.

Figure 2. Veronica hongii sp. nov. A-D Fruiting branches E bract and pedicel F calyx G flower buds H flower I capsule J seeds.