Aster huangpingensis W. P. Li & Z. Li. A. Caespitose 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Li, Zhi
name: Xiong, Yi-Chang
name: Liao, Jun-Jie
name: Xiao, Jia-Wei
name: Li, Wei-Ping
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Asterales
Asteraceae
Aster
Aster huangpingensis

description: Aster huangpingensis W. P. Li & Z. Li, sp. nov. (Figs. 5, 6 and 7).
Type: — CHINA. Guizhou (Î 州), Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Huangping County, the Grand Feiyun Canyon, riverbanks in a valley, alt. 650 m, 26°55’06” N, 108°01’53.10” E, 13 September 2017, LWP-LZ1709015 (holotype HNNU), LWP-LZ1709008, LWP-LZ1709007, LWP-LZ1709006 (isotypes HNNU) (Fig. 7).
Diagnosis: — Aster huangpingensis differs from A. dolichophyllus by its ray florets 11–22 and disk florets 16–28 (Fig. 5C, D, H), involucre 3.5–5.5 mm in diam., campanulate (Fig.5 E), middle phyllary margins with strigillose and eglandular hairs (Fig. 5G), stigmatic appendage equilaterally triangle-shaped (Fig. 5F), lower leaves (2.5) 3.3–5.8 (7.5) × 0.3–0.9 cm, narrowly oblanceolate or spatulate, bracts glandular, punctate (Fig. 5B), and different flowering period (Table 2).
Herbs, perennial, 12.5–57 cm tall, caespitose or sometimes stems solitary; strongly rhizomatous, procumbent, with long fibrous roots and adventitious roots. Stems erect or ascending, usually branched in middle and upper parts, finely canaliculate and striate, glabrous or sparsely strigillose in lower part, strigillose in upper part, densely leafy in basal part. Leaves basal and cauline, cauline leaves gradually reduced upward, thickened, glabrate, adaxially green, shiny, eglandular, midvein abaxially prominent, pale green or silvery green, 2 or 3 pairs of lateral veins joining to form a raised submarginal vein on each side, reticulate veins ± conspicuous, remotely serrate (teeth mucronate) in apex; basal and lower leaves present or withered by anthesis, long petiolate (petioles (1) 3–5 cm long), petiole subclasping, blade narrowly oblanceolate or spatulate (2.5) 3.3–5.8 (7.5) × 0.3–0.9 cm, base gradually attenuate, margin slightly thickened, distally sparsely crenate-serrulate, teeth mucronulate, apex falcate-acuminate or acuminate; middle leaves oblong-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, (2.8) 4.5–8 (9.5) × (0.2) 0.4–0.8 cm, ± erect, shortly petiolate (petioles (0.5) 1–2.5 (4) cm long), margin entire or crenulate-serrulate; upper leaves small, shortly petiolate to sessile, reduced, oblong-lanceolate to linear, (0.5) 1.5–4.2 (5.5) × 0.2–0.5 cm, apex acute, margin slightly revolute, 1-veined. Capitula 3–18 in a terminal corymbose cyme, ca. 3–5 cm in diam., peduncles 2.2–13 cm long, sparsely strigillose. Basal bracts few or absent, lanceolate, glandular, punctate. Involucres campanulate, ca. 3.5–5.5 mm in diam; phyllaries 4–5-seriate, unequal, imbricate, herbaceous, base ± hardened, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, abaxially distally villosulous and minutely glandular, light purple or purple, margin ciliate, narrowly to broadly scarious, midvein more pronounced distally, ± translucent; outer three series of phyllaries minutely stipitate glandular, apex slightly recurved. Outermost phyllaries ovate-lanceolate, rarely lanceolate, ca. 2.5–5.5 × 0.5–0.9 mm, apex leaflike; second-series phyllaries lanceolate with strigillose and eglandular hairs, purplish, 3.5–5.9 × 0.6–1 mm, third-series phyllaries linear-lanceolate, ca. 4.2–6.3 × 0.7–1.1 mm, margin scarious, ciliate, apex obtuse to acute, often purple-red; fourth-series phyllaries linear-lanceolate, ca. (4.0) 4.4–6.4 × 0.7–1.5 mm, extensively membranous, apex obtuse; innermost phyllaries linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, ca. 3.8–6.4 × 0.8–1.2 mm, membranous, strigillose, apex obtuse to acute. Ray florets 11–22, avg. 16, white, glabrous; tube ca. 2.5–3.9 mm, sparsely hairy; lamina narrowly elliptic, ca. 7–10 × 1.4–2.4 mm, shallowly 4- or 5-lobed. Disk florets yellow, 16–28, avg. 20, tube 2.5–3.8 mm, hairy, limb funnelform, lobe 3–3.5 mm, recurved; stigmatic lines 0.43–0.57 mm; stigmatic appendage (style branch appendage) equilateral triangle 0.4–0.6 mm long. Achenes brown, obovoid, slightly compressed, 1.8–2.6 mm long, strigillose, 2- or 3-ribbed. Pappus yellowish brown, 3-seriate; outermost series short (ca. 0.5 mm long); outer series ca. 3.1–4.6 mm long; inner series ca. 5 mm long, acute; innermost series ca. 4.5–5.4 mm long. Fl. Aug–Oct., fr. Sept–Nov.
Etymology: —The specific epithet refers to the type locality in Huangping County, Guizhou Province, China. Chinese name: Ȓ平Ḕƛ (huang ping zi wan).
Phenology: —Flowering from August to October and fruiting from September to November.
Distribution and habitat: — Aster huangpingensis is only known from the Grand Feiyun Canyon, Huangping County, Guizhou Province, China (Fig. 1). The plants grow along riverbanks in a valley at 650–680 m above sea level (Fig. 5A).
Conservation status: — Aster huangpingensis is known only from the type locality and no more than 250 individuals have been counted. The locality, Grand Feiyun Canyon, has been planned to be constructed into a canyon drifting scenic area, which will become a threat to the new species’ survival. Therefore, this new species should be considered endangered (EN) based on the IUCN red list criterion D1 (IUCN 2012).
Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — China. Guizhou, Huangping, alt. 650 m, on damp, stony stream banks, 28 October 2016, LZ1610012, LZ1610013, LZ1610015 (HNNU).
description: Published as part of Li, Zhi, Xiong, Yi-Chang, Liao, Jun-Jie, Xiao, Jia-Wei & Li, Wei-Ping, 2020, Aster huangpingensis (Asteraceae, Astereae), a new species from Guizhou, China, pp. 235-244 in Phytotaxa 433 (3) on pages 242-243, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.433.3.5, http://zenodo.org/record/13875004