Aspidistra tenuifolia C.R.Lin & J.C.Yang, 2014

Meng, Tao, Yang, Jin-Cai, Tang, Wen-Xui, Pan, Bo & Lin, Chun-Rui, 2014, Aspidistra tenuifolia (Asparagaceae), a new species from China, Phytotaxa 161 (4), pp. 289-293 : 289

Aspidistra tenuifolia C.R.Lin & J.C.Yang , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 )

Herb perennial, evergreen, rhizomatous. Rhizome creeping, subterete, 8–12 mm thick, covered with scales, nodes dense. Vaginal leaves 3–4, purplish red, 2–10 cm long, enveloping base of petiole, becoming blackish brown when dry. Leaves paired or occasionally solitary, 5–15 mm apart; petiole stiffly upright, 12–20 cm long, 2–3 mm thick, adaxially sulcate; leaf blade usually narrowly long to ribbon-shaped, 60–75 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, dark green, base cuneate, gradually narrowing into a petiole, inequilateral, apex acuminate, margin entire. Peduncle decumbent or declining, purplish red to dark purple, 3–6 cm long, with 3–4 bracts, bracts gradually wider from base to top of peduncle, the two uppermost at base of perigone broadly ovate-cucullate, purplish red, 7–10 mm long, 8–10 mm wide, obtuse at apex. Inflorescence a solitary flower; perigone campanulate, 2–2.5 cm long, fleshy, dark purple, 6-lobed apically; lobes slightly outcurved, broadly ovate, apex rounded, distinctly 2-whorled, lobes of outer whorl 10–13 mm long, 8–10 mm wide, those of the inner whorl smaller, adaxially densely purplish red mottled, and each with six prominent keels 1–2 mm high, keels basally running to the base of the tube; tube 12–14 mm long, 13–15 mm in diam., adaxially purplish black; stamens 6, opposite to lobes, inserted at the bottom of perigone tube, closely attached to the pistil base, filaments upright, enlarged, ca. 1 mm long and ca. 2 mm in diam., anthers yellow, extrorse, ovoid or subglobose, 3–4 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide, connective broadened and thickened, inverted triangular in surface view, base ca. 1 mm wide; pistil 5–6 mm long, ovary inconspicuous, style short, cylindrical, ca. 2 mm in diameter, stigma enlarged, obconical, 7–8 mm in diam., upper surface flat and glabrous, purplish red, blackish purple at margin, with 3 inconspicuous radial, bifurcate lines in center, 3 lobed at margin, lobes emarginate at apex, abaxially white. Flowering in November to December.

Type: — China. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jingxi County, Ande town , alt. 880 m, in a valley on limestone hill, 21 November 2011, Chun-Rui Lin 1031 (holotype IBK!, isotype IBK!) .

Distribution and ecology: —This new species is only known from Jingxi Xian in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, that borders northern Vietnam. It grows in valleys on shaded rocky limestone slopes at 820–880 m altitude.

Taxonomic relationships: — Aspidistra tenuifolia is similar to A. linearifolia Wan & Huang (1987: 220) and A. alata Tillich in Tillich et al. (2007: 336) with linear leaves, perigone campanulate and dark purple. A detailed comparison to distinguish the three species is presented in Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Aspidistra tenuifolia. A. flowering plant. B. perigone, dissected opened to show stamens and pistil. C. stigma, adaxial view. D. stamen, adaxial view. Drawn by Wen-Hong Lin.

FIGURE 2. Aspidistra tenuifolia. A. habit. B. buds. C. stamens and pistil. D. flower, side view. E. perigone, dissected showing stamens and pistil. F. stamen, abaxial view.