Rubia urceolata X. F. Wang & C. H. Wang 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Wang, Chun-Hui
name: Liu, Zhi-E
name: Li, Ya
name: Wang, Xiao-Fan
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Gentianales
Rubiaceae
Rubia
Rubia urceolata

description: Rubia urceolata X.F. Wang & C.H. Wang, sp. nov. (Figs 1, 3)   
 Diagnosis: —The new species is distinguished from R. ovatifolia, by its urceolate corolla, longer corolla tube (1.3–2 mm) and flowers with purplish red lobes.   
 Type: — CHINA. Hubei Province, Shennongjia National Park, Yanziya, sparse forests or thickets on mountains, elev. 2119 m, 31º42’ 59.38’’ N, 110º27’36.13’’ E, 17 July 2017, WCHH 17061 (holotype WH!).   
 Description: —Climbers, herbaceous, glabrescent, perennial with red rhizomatous base and roots; stems quadrangular, 4-ridged, glabrous and sparsely aculeolate. Leaves in whorls of 4; petiole 2.9–12.3 cm, aculeolate; leaf blade drying papery to thin papery, sub-orbicular to ovate, 5.5–10.6×3.3–8.0 cm, strigillose on the upperside; base cordulate to cordate, apex acute to acuminate, margins glabrous, smooth or retrorsely aculeolate; main veins 5–7, palmate, retrorsely scabrid on abaxial midribs. Inflorescences thyrsoid, leafy, with terminal and axillary cymes, 3.8–19.9 cm and 1.5–3.6 cm respectively, few-to many-flowered. Corolla urceolate, tube pale yellow, glabrous, 1.3–1.9× 2.1–2.8 mm; lobes predominantly 4, occasionally 3 or 5, purplish red, triangular, ca. 1.0–1.7× 0.8–1.4 mm. Stamens usually 4, filaments developed to reduced; stigmas 2-lobed, included; styles cleft to base. Ovary inferior, ellipsoid, ca. 1.2 mm in diam, 2- celled, ovules 1 in each cell, glabrous. Mericarp berry black at maturity, 5.6–8.5 mm in diam, glabrous, often 1 ovule aborted and 1 mericarp developed, sometimes with 2 mericarps developed.   
 Distribution: — Rubia urceolata is an endemic species and known only from two localities (Yanziya and Tianmenya) in SNP, western Hubei Province.   
 Phenology: —The species was observed flowering in the whole of July, and fruiting in October.   
 Etymology: —The specific epithet refers to its urceolatus flowers, this being the main diagnostic character separating it from its allied species.   
 Pollen morphology: —Pollen grains shape of R. urceolata in equatorial view are oblate spheroidal, and outline circular in polar view (P=15–19 μm, E=10–14 μm), with 6–7 aperturate, colpus ends obtuse to truncate, colpi are conspicuously wide, membrane is covered with large granules, and same as sexine ornamentation (Fig. 2).   
 Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — CHINA. Hubei: SNP, Yanziya, 2144 m elev., 31º42’ 53.38’’ N, 110º27’42.81’’ E, 17 July 2017, WCHH17064 (holotype WH!); at the same place, 11 October 2017, LZHE17082 (holotype WH!); Tianmenya, 2098 m elev., 31º42’ 12.75’’ N, 110º27’18.6’’ E, 21 July 2017, WCHH17113 (holotype WH!).
description: Published as part of Wang, Chun-Hui, Liu, Zhi-E, Li, Ya & Wang, Xiao-Fan, 2018, A new species Rubia urceolata (Rubiaceae: Rubieae) from Shennongjia National Park, central China, pp. 220-224 in Phytotaxa 357 (3) on pages 221-222, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.357.3.7, http://zenodo.org/record/13706007