Berberis mingetsensis Hayata (1915: 4)

Yu, Chih-Chieh & Chung, Kuo-Fang, 2014, Systematics of Berberis sect. Wallichianae (Berberidaceae) of Taiwan and Luzon with description of three new species, B. schaaliae, B. ravenii, and B. pengii, Phytotaxa 184 (2), pp. 61-99 : 84

6. Berberis mingetsensis Hayata (1915: 4) . Type :— TAIWAN. Arisan, Mingetsukei, April 1914, Hayata s.n. (holotype TI-02625!) ( Fig. 10D–H ).

Evergreen shrub, semi-prostate, 0.5–1.5 m tall. Mature stems brown or pale yellow, subterete, not verruculose. Spines 3-fid, concolorous, 0.5–2.2 cm. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade narrowly-elliptic to elliptic or sometimes lanceolate, abaxially green and usually strongly pruinose, adaxially dark green; 5.8–9.0 × 1.3–2.9 cm, thinly-leathery; midvein abaxially raised and adaxially impressed, lateral veins slightly raised, the secondary veins pinnate, jointly looped and muliti-festooned, the tertiary veins weakly reticulate if present; base cuneate, margins remotely spinose with spinules of 7–16 with 3.0–9.0 mm apart on each side, apex acuminate or mucronate. Inflorescence a fascicle or rarely a highly reduced umbel, 4–8-flowered. Bracts 1 or 2 if present, pale green or yellow with reddish-tinged narrowly-triangular 2 × 1 mm. Pedicel pale green with partly red, 1.3–2.8 cm. Bracteoles 2 or 3, red, triangular, 1.5 × 1 mm. Flowers bright yellow. Sepals in 3 whorls, bright yellow, outer and middle sepals usually outwardly revolute, outer sepals yellow usually with reddish-tinged ovate 3 × 2 mm, middle sepals yellow ovate 5 × 3.5 mm, inner sepals yellow obovate or elliptic 6.5 × 4.5 mm. Petals elliptic, 4.5 × 3 mm, base clawed with a pair of ovoid nectaries close to each other, apex incised. Stamens pale yellow ca. 4 mm, anther connective of stamen distinct, apex truncate. Pistil 5 mm long. Ovules 6. Berries black or dark blue, ellipsoid ca. 7 × 4.5 mm, more or less pruinose, estylose.

Distinguishing features: Berberis mingetsensis is similar to B. ravenii , differing from the latter by its remotely spinose margin of leaves.

Phenology: — Flowering March–April, December; Fruiting May, September.

Distribution & habitat: — Berberis mingetsensis is an understory shrub of the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest of 2300 to 2800 m. Most individuals are found from Taiwan Pleione Nature Reserve (TW Pleione NR) of Alishan ( Fig. 6A & 6C ), especially from along the Mienyueh Spur Line of Alishan Forest Rail System, with the exception of a small, disjunct population in Nantou County.

Chinese name: 眠月小ª

Proposed IUCN conservation status: —Critically Endangered [CR B1a+c(ii, iii)]. Berberis mingetsensis is known only from two restricted localities in Chiayi and Nantou County where they occur as scattered individuals on the mountain ridges or along the abandoned railway. Habitat disturbance brought about by tourists and development of the railway construction in Alishan areas may have a negative impact on the survival of the species ( IUCN 2012).

Notes: This rare species has an early and complicated taxonomic history ( Table 2). Mizushima (1954) argued that Berberis mingetsensis is very similar to the Chinese species B. bicolor , though he refrained from uniting the two. This was clearly a mistaken since B. bicolor is unique in being the only species in the whole genus with flowers that are white and red whereas the flowers of B. mingetsensis are yellow. Unfortunately, Mizushima’s (1954) statement was taken into action by Liu (1960, 1976), whose treatment also followed in Liu & Liao (1980) and Liu et al. (1988, 1994). Subsequently B. mingetsensis was synonymized under B. aristatoserrulata without explanation by Chamberlain & Hu (1984) and this was followed by Ying (2001, 2011). In 1963, Li corrected the species epithet to ‘ mingetsuensis ’, as to make it conform to the spelling of its type locality ‘Mingetsukei’ (which literally means Mingetsu ‘creek’) and this was followed by Lu & Yang (1996), Yang et al. (1997), and Lu et al. (2010). However there is no reason to believe Hayata’s use of ‘mingetsensis’ was not intentional since he also applied it to his Rubus mingetsensis Hayata (1915: 40–42) whose type was also collected in Mingetsukei. One possible explanation for his leaving out the letter ‘u’ from these two names is because there is no difference between the Japanese pronunciation of ‘mingetsuensis’ and ‘mingetsensis.’ Given this in accordance with Art. 60.1 of the Melbourne Code ( McNeill et al. 2012) Hayata’s name stands.

Additional Specimens examined: — TAIWAN. Nantou: Siluantashan , 2800m, 11 April 2009, Yu 398 (TAI) . Chiayi: Alishan , 2500 m, June 1914, Faurie 447 (HAST); Alishan Museum, 1 August 1957, Lu s.n. (HAST); Alishan, by railroad between Alishan Station and Mienyiieh Station, 2300 m, 20 March 1983, Peng 4566 (A, HAST); Shihhou, 11 March 1990, Ou s.n. (TNM); Alishan-Fengshan, 2400 m, 14 May 1992, Wang s.n. (TNM); Mienyueh Spur Line 7.9k, 2500 m, 10 September 2008, Yu 145 (TAI); Songshan, 2600 m, 26 January 2012, Yu 707 (TAI) .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Distributions of Berberis sect. Wallichianae of Taiwan and Luzon. A. Major mountain ranges in Taiwan, with possible type localities of B. aristatoserrulata and B. brevisepala. NR: Nature Preserve. MWH: Major Wildlife Habitat. Mts: Mountain Range. B. Distributions of B. aristatoserrulata, B. hayatana, and B. pengii. C. Distributions of B. chingshuiensis, B. mingetsensis, and B. nantoensis. D. Distributions of B. kawakamii, B. ravenii, and B. schaaliae. E. Distributions of B. brevisepala and B. tarokoensis. F. Distribution of B. barandana in Luzon Island of the Philippines.

FIGURE 10. Berberis hayatana Mizush. (A–C) and B. mingetsensis Hayata (D–H). A. Flowering branch, showing the dull upper surface of leaves. B. Flowers, front view. C. Fruits. D. Leaves, waxy-shining adaxially. E. Leaves, pruinose abaxially. F. A solitary flower and a highly reduced umbel with two flowers, showing the long pedicels and bracts. G. Flower, front view. H. Berry. A, B: Lalashan; C: Tamenshan; D–H: Mienyueh.A, B, D–G: courtesy of Chi-Kai Yang.