identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
C72B1318CF70FFAAFF43FB4CFB64FE25.text	C72B1318CF70FFAAFF43FB4CFB64FE25.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Apios calcicola Z. C. Lu & B. Pan bis	<div><p>Apios calcicola Z.C.Lu &amp; B.Pan bis (Ā勃), sp. nov. (Figs. 2 &amp; 3)</p><p>Type:— CHINA. Guangxi: Liuzhou City, Rong’an County, Siding Township, Sigongdong, forest margin of karst mountains, alt. 607 m, 5 September 2018, Rong’an Exped. 450224180905042LY (holotype: IBK00471730, isotypes: IBK00471731, IBK00471732).</p><p>Diagnosis: —This species is unique for its trifoliolate leaves throughout. It is similar to Apios carnea, but easily distinguished by the trifoliolate leaves, incompletely open flowers, 2-lipped calyx, and tuberous roots. It is also similar to A. fortunei, but differs by the leaflet number (3 vs. 5–7), flower color (purplish red vs. yellowish green) and size (24 mm long vs. 10 mm long).</p><p>Description:—Latex producing perennial. Herbaceous climber with tubers underground, above-ground part 3–6 m long, deciduous in winter. Tubers fleshy, oval or oblong, 2–5 cm long, 1.5–3.5 cm in diameter, scattered along runners. Stems slender, green, glabrous. Leaves trifoliolate throughout, 9–20 cm long. Petioles green, 3–9 cm long, glabrous; pulvinus 3–5 mm long, short hirsute; stipules narrowly triangular, 1–2 mm long, hairy, caducous; petiolules short hirsute, 3–5 mm long; stipels not seen; leaflets membranous, ovate, glabrous on both sides, dark green on upper side, glaucous on the other and finely reticulate veined, 3–8 × 2.5–4.5 cm, apex acute and mucronate, base broad cuneate to truncate; lateral leaflets smaller, oblique at base. Inflorescence a nodose pseudoraceme in leaf axil, 10–60-flowered, 6–21 cm long, usually 3–5 flowers per node; peduncle 2–7 cm long; nodes swollen; bracts awn-shaped, ca. 1 mm long, minute, deciduous; bracteoles 2, subtending the calyx, ca. 1 mm long, triangular and early deciduous; pedicels 2–7 mm long. Calyx campanulate and glabrous, 6–7 mm long, 2-lipped; calyx-lobes subequal. Corolla bilaterally asymmetrical and twisted, purplish red, exserted, longer than the calyx, ca. 24 mm long. Standard the largest, orbicular, ca. 22 × 18 mm, incompletely open with apex fused into a hood adnate to the apices of keel, with a green patch at the lower part, shortly auriculate on both sides, shortly clawed ca. 2 mm long; wings much smaller, ca. 15 × 3 mm, oblong, auriculate on one side, clawed ca. 2 mm long; keels greenish white, ca. 25 × 2 mm, linear and very curved, clawed ca. 2 mm long; stamens diadelphous and coiled at upper end, 9+1, ca. 2.5 cm long; anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm long, equal in size; pistil filiform; style spirally twisted; stigma capitate. Pods linear-falcate, ca. 12.3 × 0.8 cm, valves coriaceous, elastically dehiscent along both sutures when mature, surface glabrous, brownish when mature. Seeds ellipsoid, smooth, red to brown mottled, compressed laterally, ca. 11 × 7 mm.</p><p>Phenology: —Flowering June to September, fruiting in November.</p><p>Distribution and ecology: — Apios calcicola, endemic to China, is currently only seen in Guangxi and Guizhou Provinces (Fig. 4), at an elevation of 500– 700 m. It occurs in karst terrain in this region and climbs on bamboo or thickets. The historical distribution records of A. calcicola include Huanjiang County and Rong'an County in Guangxi, as well as Libo County in Guizhou. As karst mountains are widespread in Southwest China, we suppose that its actual distribution may be much wider than recorded in this paper.</p><p>Conservation status: — Apios calcicola has been found in three localities in Guangxi and two localities in Guizhou. We have not conducted in-depth investigations into the wild population and distribution area of A. calcicola, so its population size and range remain unclear. Therefore, according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN 2024), A. calcicola should be attributed to the Data Deficient (DD) category at present. More in-depth field research is necessary to better evaluate the conservation status of the new species, also considering that newly described plant species can be attributed to very different IUCN categories, ranging from threat categories (Brullo et al. 2015; Orsenigo et al. 2016; Ben Mahmoud et al. 2024) to least concern (Siti-Munirah &amp; Dome 2023).</p><p>Etymology: —The specific epithet ‘ calcicola ’ refers to the karst habitats of this new species.</p><p>The Chinese name of Apios calcicola is therefore given as ƋƜ土圞儿 (Standard Chinese Pinyin:shí shān tǔ luán ér), the direct translation of its Latin name.</p><p>Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— CHINA. Guangxi: Hechi City, Huanjiang County, Mulun National Nature Reserve, alt. 530 m, labelled ‘ Vigna vexillata ’, 15 August 2011, L. Wu, R. C. Peng &amp; J. C. Yang ML0137 (IBK). Hechi City, Huanjiang County, Minglun Town (Yi Bei), labelled ‘ A. carnea ’, 29 June 1928, R. C. Ching 6309 (IBSC, PE). Liuzhou City, Rong’an County, Siding Township, Sigongdong, forest margin of karst mountains, alt. 605 m, 1 September 2019, Rong’an Exped. 450224190901038LY (HITBC, IBK), ibid., forest margin of karst mountains, alt. 600 m, 25 November 2021, Z. C. Lu LZC261 (IBK). Guizhou: Libo County, Maolan National Nature Reserve, Ganpai, 12 September 2016, X. Q. Tian T160912477 (IBSC), ibid., 11 September 2020, B. Pan 3819 (HITBC), ibid., 31 August 2025, K. Chiang KC3119 (NPH). Libo County, Maolan National Nature Reserve, Jiantang Township, Banzhai Village, alt. 536 m, labelled ‘ A. carnea ’, 5 August 2018, Q. R. Liu 2018080524 (BNU).</p><p>Discussion: — Apios calcicola looks like A. fortunei in the characteristics of the nodose inflorescences, asymmetric flowers and fleshy tubers. The phylogenetic analyses also show that A. calcicola is related to A. fortunei (Fig. 1), but A. calcicola differs from the latter in the trifoliolate leaves, 2-lipped calyx, larger and purplish red flowers.</p><p>In addition, Apios calcicola may sometimes be confused with A. carnea, which has broader leaflets, red or purplish red flowers, and occasionally trifoliolate leaves (Zhang et al., 2018). A. calcicola can be readily distinguished from A. carnea by its well-developed tubers (inconspicuous in A. carnea), trifoliolate leaves (usually 3–7 leaflets in A. carnea), and the incompletely open and asymmetric flowers (fully open in A. carnea). Two historical records (R. C. Ching 6309 &amp; Q. R. Liu 2018080524) were first both identified as A. carnea, probably due to their similarity.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/C72B1318CF70FFAAFF43FB4CFB64FE25	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Lu, Zhao-Cen;Wei, Lang;Song, Zhu-Qiu;Wei, Su-Juan;Pan, Bo	Lu, Zhao-Cen, Wei, Lang, Song, Zhu-Qiu, Wei, Su-Juan, Pan, Bo (2025): Apios calcicola (Fabaceae: Papilionoideae: Phaseoleae), a new species from limestone mountains of Southwestern China. Phytotaxa 726 (3): 193-200, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.726.3.7, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.726.3.7
