Oreocharis uniflora L. H. Yang & M. Kang 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yang, Li-Hua
name: Huang, Jing-Zhong
name: Deng, Fang-Dong
name: Kang, Ming
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Lamiales
Gesneriaceae
Oreocharis
Oreocharis uniflora

description: Oreocharis uniflora L.H.Yang & M.Kang sp. nov. (Figs 1 & 2)
Diagnosis: —Differing from O. striata by its white villous petioles and leaf blades, less lateral veins (5–6 on each side of midrib), 1- flowered cymes, shorter peduncles (1.8–3.5 cm long) and pedicels (1.0– 1.5 cm long), 3–5-serrate calyx lobes, campanulate-tubular corolla tube, 4 stamens, and 1 disc-shaped stigma. Differing from O. lungshengensis by its 1-flowered cymes, 3–5-serrate calyx lobes, pale purple to reddish purple corolla, inside with longitudinally purple striations, campanulate-tubular corolla tube, 4 free anthers, and 1 disc-shaped stigma.
Type: — CHINA. Guangdong: Huidong County, Baipenzhu Town, on rock surface under evergreen broad-leaved forest in the Lianhuashan-Baipanzhu Nature Reserve, elevation 300–600 m, 23°05 ′ N, 115°13 ′ E, 3 March 2016 (flowering), Li-Hua Yang et al. YLH285 (holotype: IBSC!).
Perennial herbs, rosulate, rhizomatous stem, subterete, 0.9–1.3 cm long, 5–8 mm in diameter. Leaves basal, 8–12, clustered at the apex; petiole terete, 1.3–3.5 cm long, 2–3 mm in diameter, densely white villous; leaf blade elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 6–9 × 3.1–5.2 cm, papery when dried, margin serrate to crenate, apex obtuse to subacute, base cordate to broadly cuneate and slightly unequal, adaxial surface densely to sparsely white villous, abaxial surface densely villous along veins; lateral veins 5–6 on each side of midrib, adaxially concave, abaxially prominent. Cymes 1–2, axillary, 1-flowered; peduncle slender, 1.8–3.5 cm long, ca. 1.3 mm in diameter, densely white villous; bracts 2, opposite, 3.5–4.5 × 1.1–1.5 mm, narrowly lanceolate, margin entire, apex acute, outside densely white villous; pedicel 1–1.5 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter, white villous. Calyx 5-parted to near base, lobes equal, lanceolate, 5.3–7.8 × 1.4–2.8 mm, margin 3–5-serrate, apex acute, outside white villous and inside glabrescent. Corolla pale purple to reddish purple, inside with longitudinally purple striations, outside sparsely puberulous, inside glabrescent, 3.5–4 cm long, tube campanulate-tubular, not swollen, 2.5–2.9 cm long, ca. 1cm in diameter at the mouth; limb distinctly 2-lipped, all lobes broadly oblong, apex obtuse, margin slightly premorse; adaxial lip 2-lobbed near base, lobes 7.5–8.8 × 7.7–8.5 mm, abaxial 3-lobbed near base, lobes 9.1–10 × 8.4–9.2 mm; stamens 4, free, included, slightly unequal in length, adnated to 1.3–1.7 cm above corolla base; filaments slender, glabrous, the long two 2.5–5.8 mm long, the short two 2.1–4.8 mm long; anthers oblong, basifixed, dehiscing longitudinally, glabrous, 4–5 × 1–1.2 mm; staminode absent. Disc ca. 1.5 mm high, erose. Pistil 2.5–2.9 cm long; ovary linear, 1.4–1.7 cm long, densely pubescent, style 1–1.2 cm long, densely pubescent, stigma 1, disc-shaped, emarginate. ca. 1.2 mm in diameter. Capsule 2.3–3.5 cm, glabrescent, dehiscing loculicidally to base, initially on one side, valves 2, straight, not twisted.
Distribution and habitat: —At present, this new species is only known from the type locality, Lianhuashan-Baipanzhu Nature Reserve in southeastern Guangdong, China (Fig 3). Plants grow on moist rock surface under evergreen broad-leaved forests, at an elevation ca. 300– 600 m.
Phenology: —This new species flowering from February to March, and fruiting at April.
Etymology:— The specific epithet is derived from the 1-flowered cymes.
Conservation status: —There are only three adjacent and small populations of Oreocharis uniflora at the type locality, with no more than 100 mature individuals in all. Based on the current information, O. uniflora should be considered as ‘Critically Endangered’ (CR): B2ab (ii, iii)+C2a(i, ii), following the IUCN categories and criteria (IUCN 2016).
Additional specimens examined (paratype): — CHINA. Guangdong: Huidong County, Baipenzhu Town, same locality as type, 25 March 2015, Li-Hua Yang et al. YLH198 (Huizhou Forestry Research Institute!).
Discussion:— Oreocharis uniflora is morphologically similar to O. striata and O. lungshengensis.After comparing the specimens and literature of O. striata and O. lungshengensis with O. uniflora, we found that this new species can be clearly differentiated from both by several characters described in the diagnosis, and the detailed morphological comparison is provided in Table 1. In fact, the morphology of O. uniflora is somewhere between O. striata and O. lungshengensis, the characteristics, such as, elliptic to elliptic-ovate leaf blade, white villous pubescence, leaf base cordate to broadly cuneate and 4 stamens are more similar to O. lungshengensis, but the corolla pale purple to reddish purple, inside with longitudinally purple striations and free anthers are more like O. striata, and the geographic distribution of O. uniflora is also between O. striata and O. lungshengensis (Fig 3). In addition, it is worth noting that four free stamens and campanulate-tubular tube of this new species are also similar to Oreocharis cavaleriei H. Léveillé, but the leaf, cymes, flower color, indumentum and geographical distribution are distinctively different from the latter.
description: Published as part of Yang, Li-Hua, Huang, Jing-Zhong, Deng, Fang-Dong & Kang, Ming, 2017, Oreocharis uniflora, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Guangdong, China, pp. 292-296 in Phytotaxa 295 (3) on pages 292-294, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.295.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/13690019