Artemisia neosinensis Jiao & Gao

Guo, Xin-Qiang, Wang, Long & Yang, Qin-Er, 2022, Clarification of morphological characters and geographical distribution of Artemisia neosinensis (Asteraceae, Anthemideae), a strikingly misunderstood species from China, Phytotaxa 544 (1), pp. 11-36 : 21-34

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.544.1.2
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6504872
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03CE87CE-FFED-A553-94A9-F5697E33FD0F
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Artemisia neosinensis Jiao & Gao
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Artemisia neosinensis Jiao & Gao View in CoL in Jiao et al. (2016: 89).

Artemisia sinensis (Pampanini) Ling & Ling in Ling (1980: 505). Artemisia strongylocephala var. sinensis Pampanini (1927: 177) .

Figs. 1 View FIGURE 1 , 5 View FIGURE 5 , 6 View FIGURE 6 , 9–12 View FIGURE 9 View FIGURE 10 View FIGURE 11 View FIGURE 12 , 14A, B View FIGURE 14 .

Type:— CHINA. Yunnan: Lijiang County (now Yulong County), eastern flank of the Lijiang Range (= Yulong Shan ), alt. 3350 m, August 1910, G. Forrest 6306 [lectotype E00417241 !, designated by Jiao et al. (2016) ; isolectotype K000891846 !) ].

Fig. 1A, B View FIGURE 1 .

= Artemisia strongylocephala var. sinensis f. virgata Pampanini (1927: 178) View in CoL , p.p.

Type:— CHINA. Yunnan, Ninglang County, Yungning (= Yongning), in regione temperate prope lacum ad pagum Yünnansen Yungning in marginibus pratorum, alt. circ. 2800 m, 18 April 1914, H. Handel-Mazzetti 3104 (WU0062064!, lectotype designated here; isolectotype E00417243!; see below for discussion). Fig. 14A, B View FIGURE 14 .

Description:—Herbs, perennial, 30–70 cm tall. Rhizome woody, to 0.5 cm in diameter at base. Stems tomentose, rarely sparsely pubescent, more or less branched, erect or ascending. Basal stem leaves usually withered before anthesis; lower and middle stem leaves subsessile, 1-pinnatisect, adaxially tomentose, abaxially arachnoid-tomentose, leaf blade oblong or ovate-oblong, 2.0–7.0 cm long, 1.0– 3.6 cm broad, segments 2–5 pairs, elliptic, 0.8–2.0 cm long, 0.4–0.7 cm broad, margin dentate-lobed, lobules ovate-acuminate or ovate, apex mucronate, 0.3–0.5 cm long, 0.2–0.4 cm broad; uppermost stem leaves sessile, 1-pinnatisect, oblong or ovate-oblong, 1.2–2.8 cm long, 0.7–1.8 cm broad, adaxially tomentose, abaxially arachnoid-tomentose, segments elliptic, apex mucronate, margin entire or dentatelobed, 0.4–0.6 cm long, 0.2–0.3 cm broad. Synflorescence a narrow or broad panicle, ascending. Capitula nodding, sessile or subsessile, sometimes clustered together, campanulate, 2–4 mm long, 2 mm in diameter. Phyllaries abaxially arachnoid-tomentose, ovate or oblong-ovate, 3–4 rows. Receptacle glabrous. Marginal female florets 10–15, 2–4 mm long, fertile, corolla tubular, apex 2-toothed, style exerted. Disk florets 15–25 (–30), 2–4 mm long, bisexual, fertile, corolla cupular, apex 5-toothed. Achenes obovoid.

Notes: * denotes that Artemisia neosinensis differs from A. qinlingensis also by having smaller basal and middle stem leaves [2.0–7.0 cm long, 1.0– 3.6 cm broad vs. 6–8 (–10) cm long, 4–6 cm broad], and differs from A. tridactyla by having fertile (vs. sterile) disk florets. # denotes that the leaf segments are not lobed, thus without leaf lobules.

Distribution and habitat:— Artemisia neosinensis is distributed in western Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan, China ( Fig. 13 View FIGURE 13 ). It grows in alpine or subalpine steppes, on slopes or at forest margins at altitudes of 2600–4000 m.

Phenology:—Flowering from August to October; fruiting in October.

Additional specimens examined:— CHINA. Sichuan: Daocheng, K.Y. Lang et al. 2591 (KUN, PE), Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 4249 (CDBI, PE), Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 6011 (CDBI, KUN, PE), Sichuan Veget. Exped. 2122 (KUN), Sichuan Veget. Exped. 2446 (CDBI, KUN); Dêrong, Anonymous 118 (HITBC); Jiulong, Anonymous 36-612 (PE), Anonymous 57-111 (PE), Jiulong Exped. 267 (SM), Q.C. Wang 20482 (CDBI); Litang, Anonymous 28262 (CDBI), S.C. Xiao 131 (CDBI); Muli, C. Ren et al. 445 (IBSC), T.T. Yu 7739 (KUN, PE), Q.S. Zhao 6234 (CDBI, SZ), Q.S. Zhao et al. 6877 (CDBI, SZ); Xiangcheng, Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 2591 (PE), Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 4078 (PE); Yanyuan, Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 12142 (KUN, PE). Yunnan: Dêqên, H. Sun & Z.G. Qian 696 (KUN); Ninglang, South-to-North Water Diversion Exped. 6087 (SZ); L. Wang et al. 3880 (IBSC); Shangri-la, Anonymous W16 (PE), D.E. Boufford et al. 42137 (PE), Kham Exped. 10-2703 (PE), J.S. Yang 83-417 (IBSC); Yulong (= Lijiang), Anonymous 100320 (KUN), G. Forrest 2558 (E, IBSC), Gucheng Group 2439 (IMDY), H. Handel-Mazzetti 3640 (WU), T.C. Kao 1297 (PEM), South-to-North Water Diversion Exped. 6325 (KUN, PE, SZ), C.W. Wang 70612 (PE), L. Wang et al. 4223 (IBSC), R.L. Xiong et al. 610165 (KUN), Yunnan Univ. Biol. Depart. Veget. Exped. 140 (KUN).

Notes:— Jiao et al. (2016) stated that Artemisia neosinensis was morphologically similar to A. somae Hayata (1919: 64) , but differed by having wider leaves (4–12 cm vs. 3.5–4.0 cm) and longer leaf lobules (1.0– 1.5 cm vs. 0.5–0.8 cm). As clarified above by us, A. neosinensis has much narrower leaves (1.0– 3.6 cm) and shorter leaf lobules (0.3–0.5 cm) than Jiao et al. (2016) stated. Obviously Jiao et al. (2016) made their statement due to their misunderstanding of A. neosinensis . In fact, A. somae ( Fig. 15 View FIGURE 15 ) is readily distinguishable from A. neosinensis by, among other characters, having lanceolate (vs. elliptic) leaf segments and hemispheric or ovoid (vs. campanulate) capitula. Geographically A. somae is endemic in China’s Taiwan, whereas A. neosinensis is distributed only in western Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan. Artemisia neosinensis is actually closely similar to A. tainingensis , a species distributed in southern Qinghai, western Sichuan and eastern Xizang, in having adaxially tomentose, abaxially arachnoid-tomentose leaves, campanulate capitula with abaxially arachnoid-tomentose phyllaries, differing only by having 1-pinnatisect (vs. 2-pinnatisect) leaves with ovate-acuminate or ovate (vs. elliptic or oblong) lobules ( Figs. 1 View FIGURE 1 , 5 View FIGURE 5 , 6 View FIGURE 6 , 9–12 View FIGURE 9 View FIGURE 10 View FIGURE 11 View FIGURE 12 , 16 View FIGURE 16 , 17 View FIGURE 17 ; Table 3 View TABLE 3 ). From a morphological perspective, both A. neosinensis and A. tainingensis should be referred to A. subg. Artemisia sect. Artemisia .

As shown in Figure 1A View FIGURE 1 , the E sheet of G. Forrest 6306, the lectotype of Artemisia neosinensis , was misidentified in 1985 as “ A. orientalis (Pamp.) Ling & Y.R Ling ” on a determination slip, a combination based on A. roxburghiana var. orientalis Pampanini (1930: 430) . Obviously owing to the pre-existence of A. orientalis Willdenow (1804: 1836) , Ling & Ling in Ling (1988) proposed a replacement name at specific rank, A. orientalihengduangensis , for A. roxburghiana var. orientalis . This species is distinguishable from A. neosinensis by having adaxially sparsely pubescent (vs. tomentose) leaves with lanceolate (vs. elliptic) segments ( Table 3 View TABLE 3 ).

Artemisia strongylocephala var. sinensis f. virgata Pampanini (1927: 178) was described on the basis of four collections, including H. Handel-Mazzetti 3104 (E, WU; Fig. 14A, B View FIGURE 14 ) from Ninglang County in northwestern Yunnan, G. Mussot 205 (P; Fig. 14C View FIGURE 14 ), J.A. Soulié 640 (P; Fig. 14D View FIGURE 14 ) and J.A. Soulié 2149 (not seen) all from Ta-tsien-lou (= Kangding) in western Sichuan. It was recognized by Pampanini (1929), Handel-Mazzetti (1936), Hu (1965), and Anonymous (1984), but was treated, under the name A. sinensis , as a synonym of A. neosinensis by Ling (1991) and Ling et al. (2011). The specimens of H. Handel-Mazzetti 3104 ( Fig. 14A, B View FIGURE 14 ) have 1-pinnatisect, adaxially tomentose, abaxially arachnoid-tomentose leaves with ovate-acuminate or ovate lobules of segments and thus should belong to A. neosinensis , whereas the specimens of G. Mussot 205 ( Fig. 14C View FIGURE 14 ) and J.A. Soulié 640 ( Fig. 14D View FIGURE 14 ) have adaxially viscidpubescent leaves and abaxially sparsely pubescent phyllaries and thus should belong to A. tangutica var. tomentosa ( Fig. 18 View FIGURE 18 ), with its type locality situated in Kangding County in western Sichuan. These specimens are syntypes of A. strongylocephala var. sinensis f. virgata as Pampanini (1927) did not designate type for this name. As these specimens include two taxa, a lectotype should be designated according to ICN Art. 9.11 ( Turland et al. 2018). We have designated the WU sheet of H. Handel-Mazzetti 3104 ( Fig. 14A View FIGURE 14 ), which matches well the protologue, as lectotype of this name, and cited the E sheet of this collection as isolectotype.

Artemisia strongylocephala var. sinensis f. robusta Pampanini (1927: 178) was described on the basis of G. Forrest 13379 ( Fig. 19A, B; E View FIGURE 19 , PE) from the Mekong-Salwin divide in northwestern Yunnan. Ling & Ling in Ling (1988) elevated it to specific rank as A. robusta and this treatment was accepted by Ling (1991, 1994, 2004) and Ling et al. (2011). Based on our examination on herbarium specimens (including type material) ( Fig. 19 View FIGURE 19 ), the leaves in A. robusta are adaxially sparsely pubescent, the segments are elliptic or narrowly elliptic, marginally serrate, and the capitula are hemispheric, with abaxially sparsely pubescent phyllaries. From these characters A. robusta is indeed a distinctive species and readily distinguishable from A. neosinensis (also see Table 3 View TABLE 3 and the key).

The name Artemisia moorcroftiana has been commonly used in taxonomic literature including national and regional Floras ( Handel-Mazzetti 1938, Pampanini 1939, Hu 1965, Stewart 1972, Ling 1985, 1991, 1994, 2004, Liu 1996, Grierson & Long 2001, Wu 2008, Ling et al. 2011, Wei 2012). It is, however, an illegitimate name, because Candolle (1838) cited an earlier name, A. wallichiana , as a synonym in the protologue of A. moorcroftiana . The correct name of this species should be A. wallichiana as applied by Polunin & Stainton (1984), Naithanii (1995), and Yonekura 2008).

In order to facilitate the identification of Artemisia neosinensis and the taxa more or less similar to it as mentioned above, a diagnostic key is provided below.