Ophiopogon guangzhouensis H. Z. Feng, Xin Jun Gan & Q. Fan 2024, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Gan, Xin-Jun
name: Feng, Hui-Zhe
name: Chen, Huan-Jin
name: Zhong, Ping-Sheng
name: Fan, Qiang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Asparagales
Asparagaceae
Ophiopogon
Ophiopogon guangzhouensis

description: Ophiopogon guangzhouensis H.Z. Feng, Xin Jun Gan & Q. Fan, sp. nov. (Figs. 10 & 11)
Type:— CHINA. Guangdong Province: Guangzhou City, Conghua County, Lutian Town, Chenhedong Provincial Nature Reserve, 12 April 2024, Q. Fan, H. Z. Feng & C. H. Zhang GZCH-1025 (holytype: SYS 00236958!).
Diagnosis:—The new species is morphologically similar to Ophiopogon bockianus, but differs markedly by its rhizome moniliform, leaf blade 45 – 60 cm long, 0.8 – 1 cm broad; pedicels 1.3 – 1.7 cm long, and longer than the stalky part of the floral base, adjacent anthers and filaments all completely connate, ad style exerted beyond the tepals.
Description:—Herb terrestrial, glabrous, evergreen, perennial. Stem rhizome like, stout, with dense nodes, moniliform with remaining petioles and somewhat fleshy, densely hairy roots. Leaves basal and crowed, (25) 30–70 (75) cm long; petiole obvious, white, oblate columnar, (5)15–20 (23) cm long, base up to 2 cm thick; blade (25) 45–60 (65) cm long, (0.4) 0.8–1.2 (1) cm at the widest point, attenuate at apex, leathery, glabrous, adaxial surface glossy, uniformly light grass-green when young, becoming darker green with age; abaxial longitudinal veins ca. 10 (including marginal ones), light pale green, midrib (midvein) somewhat raised, intervein regions paler; leaf margin finely serrulate. Flowering stem (including peduncle and rachis), ascending, erect, fleshy, somewhat twisted, violet; peduncle (6.5) 8–15 (18) cm long, (2.2) 2.5–3 (3.4) mm in diameter, infertile bracts (4) 6–8 (10), narrowly triangular, connate at the base and form a sheath, ca. (1) 1.2–(2.3) 3 cm; inflorescence a lax raceme with 7–11 distant fascicles of 1 (2) flowers; rachis (8) 10–13 (16) cm long; pedicels arising from axils of bracts, acroscopic, terete, usually dirty bluish violet, (1.3) 1.5–2 (2.5) cm long, (0.4) 0.5–0.6 (0.7) mm in diameter, distally slightly narrowed, forming a distinct articulation to basal stalky part of perianth; floral bracts fasciculate, outermost bract acroscopic, glabrous, lanceolate to narrowly triangular, (2) 5–8 (12) mm long, (2.5) 3–3.5 (4) mm wide, acute, light pale green to dirty bluish violet on both surfaces, margin scarious, more or less irregularly undulate; inner bracts (bracteoles) similar to outermost bract in texture, shape and color, but much smaller, (3.5) 4–5 (5.5) mm long, (0.8) 1–1.5 (2) mm wide. Flowers cernuous, campanulate, (1.4) 1.6–1.8 (2) cm long, (0.8) 0.9–1 (1.3) cm in diam., odorless, enectariferous. Perianth fleshy, glabrous, proximally syntepalous, distally 6-cleft; syntepalous part (including basal stalky part ca. 0.8 cm long) funnel form, purplish violet, ca. 3 mm long, ca. 7 mm in diameter at summit; lobes 6, ovate to narrowly ovate, outer 3 slightly wider than inner 3, (5.5) 6–6.5 (7) mm long, (3.2) 3.6–4.4 (4.6) mm wide, purplish violet with white tinged, margins entire, somewhat undulate, strong revolute, apex subacute to obtuse, recurved. Stamens 6, connate, inserted at base of each perianth lobe; filaments, connate, trapezoidal, ca. 0.2 mm long, 0.8–1 mm wide, ca. 0.2 mm thick, white; anthers slightly connivent distally, dorsi-basifixed, subsessile, narrowly hastate-deltoid (lateral sides somewhat concave and dilated toward base), (2.9) 3–3.5 (4) mm long, (1.2) 1.3–1.4 (1.5) mm wide at base, 0.6–0.8 mm thick, introrse, apical portion of each theca dehiscing earlier, light pale yellowish green. Pistil 1, tricarpellate, white; ovary inferior, nearly obovoid, apex subtruncate, slightly convex above, but somewhat concave in center around base of style, 3-locular; each locule with 2 ovules on basal part of ovary central axis, obovoid to subglobose; style awl-shaped, erect, straight or slightly curved distally, (5) 5.2–5.5 (5.7) mm long, 0.5–0.7 mm in diameter, longitudinally slightly 3-sulcate, exposed outside the flower; stigma minute, subacute to obtuse. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 1 cm long, ca. 8 mm in diameter, sarcotesta externally cobalt blue at maturity, glossy, albumen white.
Etymology:—The specific epithet refers to the city of species origin. The Chinese name is given as " Ḟfflāẖ Ṝ "; Guǎng zhōu Yán Jiē Cǎo (Chinese Pin-Yin transliteration).
Phenology:—Flowers in cultivation in April–May.
Ecology, phenology and conservation status:—This new species grows on damp slopes of valleys, under primary evergreen broad-leaved forest at elevation ca. 800 m a.s.l., in shady places, forming a large population, common.
Taxonomic relationships: —In the genus Ophiopogon, O. bockianus (including O. pseudotonkinensis), O. angustifoliatus and O. stenophyllus, of which all the anthers are connate, are most closely similar to O. guangzhouensis. Ophiopogon guangzhouensis differs from O. bockianus mainly in its rhizome moniliform, leaf blade 45 – 60× 0.8 – 1.2 cm (vs. 20 – 30× 1.4 – 2.2 cm), pedicels longer (1.5–2 vs. 0.3–0.5 cm long) than the stalky part of the floral base (ca. 0.8 cm vs. ca. 1.3 cm long), filaments connate (vs. free), style exerted beyond the tepals (vs. shorter than the tepals). Ophiopogon guangzhouensis can distinguishable from O. angustifoliatus by the stems are not stoloniferous, leaves are lanceolate, 30–70 × 0.6–1.5 cm (vs. linear, only 15–25 × 3–7 mm), pedicels are ca. 1.2–1.5 cm long (vs. 0.5 cm long), anthers are ca. ca. 3.5 mm long (vs. 2 mm long), and filaments are connate (vs. free). Ophiopogon guangzhouensis is less similar to O. stenophyllus than to O. bockianus and O. angustifoliatus. In O. stenophyllus, the anthers are free when mature and the filaments are also free; the tepals are nearly straight and the styles are hidden within the tepals; the stem has a few rigid semi-woody prop roots. Detailed morphological differences among the compared species are shown in Table 1.
description: Published as part of Gan, Xin-Jun, Feng, Hui-Zhe, Chen, Huan-Jin, Zhong, Ping-Sheng & Fan, Qiang, 2024, Taxonomic studies on the genus Ophiopogon (Asparagaceae) I: - identity of O. albimarginatus and O. pseudotonkinensis, and a new species O. guangzhouensis from Guangdong, China, pp. 121-136 in Phytotaxa 662 (2) on page 131, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.662.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14516512