Huperzia myriophyllifolia ( Hayata1914:133 ) Holub(1985:75)

Wan, Xia, Knapp, Ralf, Chen, De-Kui, He, Hai & Zhang, Li-Bing, 2023, Taxonomic notes on some East Asian pteridophytes, Phytotaxa 597 (2), pp. 128-140 : 129

Huperzia myriophyllifolia ( Hayata1914:133) Holub(1985:75) .

Basionym: Lycopodium serratum var. myriophyllifolium Hayata (1914: 133) . Figure 1 .

Type :— Taiwan Island: Mt. Arisan, March 1911, U . Mori 6208 (holotype, TI) .

Lycopodium serratum var. myriophyllifolium was often treated as a synonym of “ Huperzia serrata ” ( Thunberg 1784: 944) Trevisan (1875: 247) (e.g., Knapp 2011, Zhang & Iwatsuki 2013). Huperzia myriophyllifolia is a rather rare taxon, found only in Jiayi (the type locality and Luqushan) in Central Taiwan and Taoyuan (Xuebaishan) in North/ North-Central Taiwan. It is characterized by having narrower linear microphylls with the margins strongly crinkly and toothed. Molecular data from cpDNA sequences showed that the two species are distinct (Chen et al. 2022) with three samples of H. myriophyllifolia forming a distinct clade, different from the resolution of H. serrata .

Doubt regarding its taxonomic status as a variety was already casted by Knapp & Hsu (2017). Its recognition as a species was then published by Hsu et al. (2019), but only in Chinese. Our earlier molecular data showed that it formed a distinct and strongly supported clade and deserves the recognition as a species (Chen et al. 2022).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Huperzia myriophyllifolia.—A. Habitat.—B. Habit.—C. Middle portion of plant.—D. Upper portion of plant.—E. Top view of plant.—F. Middle portion of plant showing sporangia (photo credit: Ralf Knapp).