Carex paratatsiensis Y.F.Lu & X.F.Jin, 2022

Lu, Yi-Fei & Jin, Xiao-Feng, 2022, Notes on Carex (Cyperaceae) from China (VIII): five new species and a new variety from southern and south-western China, PhytoKeys 188, pp. 31-47 : 31

3. Carex paratatsiensis Y.F.Lu & X.F.Jin sp. nov.

Figure 2F-J

Latin diagnosis.

Haec species nova C. tastiensi (Franch.) Kük. affinis est, sed utriculis brevioribus, 3 - 3.2 mm longis, membranaceis, squamis pistillatis ovatis vel late ovatis, nucibus obovoideis, stigmatibus 2 vel 3 differt.

Type.

China. Tibet: Mêdog, Dayandong , 29°25'45.54"N, 95°02'58.37"E, in thickets on slope, alt. 2950 m, 7 Jun 2017, X.H. Xiong 999A (holotype: ZM; isotypes: ZJFC, ZM) .

Rhizomes slender, long, woody, long-stoloniferous. Culms central, 14-30 cm tall, slender, obtusely trigonous, lower part smooth and upper part scabrous, base with red-brown fibrous sheaths. Leaves shorter than culms; blades flat, 1-2 mm wide, margin scabrous. Bracts shortly leaf-like or uppermost setaceous, shorter to longer than inflorescence, base with 0.5-2 cm long sheaths. Spikes 2-4, remote; terminal 1 or 2 spikes staminate, narrowly cylindrical, 1-3.5 cm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, base with 0.3-6 cm long peduncles; lateral spikes pistillate, single or rarely binate, cylindrical, 0.8-2.7 cm long, 2.5-4 mm wide, 8-18-flowered, peduncles erect, slender, 0.3-7.5 cm long, exserted from sheaths. Staminate glumes obovate-lanceolate, red-brown, 5-5.5 mm long, apex acute or emarginate, with yellow 3-veined costa excurrent into a mucro. Pistillate glumes ovate or broadly ovate, red-brown, 2.5-2.8 mm long, margin whitish hyaline, apex acute or emarginate, with yellow-brown 3-veined costa excurrent into a mucro. Utricles red-brown and yellow-green below, ellipsoid, obtusely trigonous, 3-3.2 mm long, membranous, obliquely patent, inconspicuously several thinly veined, base cuneate and shortly stipitate, apex gradually contracted into a ca. 1 mm long beak, orifice truncate or 2-lobed with minute teeth, margin barbate. Nutlets tightly enveloped, yellow, obovoid, trigonous, 1.8-2 mm long, apex with ca. 0.3 mm long curved beak; style base not thickened; stigmas 2 or 3.

Etymology.

The specific epithet ‘paratatsiensis’ refers to the similarity with Carex tatsiensis .

Phenology.

Flowering and fruiting is in early June.

Additional specimen examined.

China. Tibet: Mêdog, Dayandong, 29°25'45.54"N, 95°02'58.37"E, in thickets on slope, alt. 2950 m, 7 Jun 2017, X.H. Xiong 999B, 999C (ZJFC, ZM).

Conservation status.

Data Deficient (DD). There is inadequate information for distribution and population status and we could not make a direct assessment of its risk of extinction now ( IUCN 2019).

Notes.

This new species is similar to Carex tatsiensis , which was placed in sect. Carex Aulocystis , but differs in having utricles shorter (3-3.2 mm long), membranous, pistillate glumes ovate or broadly ovate and nutlets obovoid with 2 or 3 stigmas. Based on the phylogenetic hypotheses, the traditional taxonomic section Carex Aulocystis was polyphyletic and clustered with some species of sect. Carex Clandestinae , which made it a heterogeneous group ( Roalson et al. 2021). In some descriptions of Carex tatsiensis ( Dai et al. 2000, 2010), the utricles were described as membranous, but our examination showed the utricles of C. tatsiensis are thin-coriaceous or coriaceous ( Jin and Lu 2020).

Figures

Figure 2. A-E Carex puberuliutriculata sp. nov. A habit B staminate glume C pistillate glume D utricle E nutlet F-J Carex paratatsiensis sp. nov. F habit G staminate glume H pistillate glume I utricle J nutlet (Drawn by Xiao-Feng Jin; based on holotype: X. H. Xiong 1129 for C. puberuliutriculata in ZM and holotype: X. H. Xiong 999 A for C. paratatsiensis in ZM).