Oreocharis purpurata, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Hunan, China

Abstract

Oreocharis purpurata B.Pan, M.Q.Han & Yan Liu, a new species of Gesneriaceae from central Hunan, China, is described and illustrated here. It is morphologically similar to O. pinnatilobata. The major difference is the two glandular ridges glands on the ventral corolla throat, which may be associated with pollinator attractions.

Full text

Phytotaxa 328 (2): 183–188
http://www.mapress.com/j/pt/
Copyright © 2017 Magnolia Press Article PHYTOTAXA
ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition)
ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition)
Accepted by Hai He: 24 Oct. 2017; published: 17 Nov. 2017
https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.328.2.9
183
Oreocharis purpurata, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Hunan, China
MENG-QI HAN1, 2, BO PAN2, LING-LI ZOU2 & YAN LIU2, *
1 College of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China.
2 Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541006, China.
*Corresponding author: gxibly@163.com
Abstract
Oreocharis purpurata B.Pan, M.Q.Han & Yan Liu, a new species of Gesneriaceae from central Hunan, China, is described
and illustrated here. It is morphologically similar to O. pinnatilobata. The major difference is the two glandular ridges glands
on the ventral corolla throat, which may be associated with pollinator attractions.
Keywords: Gesneriaceae, Hunan, new species, Oreocharis
Introduction
Previously, Oreocharis Bentham (1876: 1021) was a small genus with 28 species mainly distributed in China (Wang
et al. 1998). However, recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have led to the new delimitation and expansion of
Oreocharis. Ten small or monotypic genera were merged into Oreocharis s.l. by Möller et al. (2011) and now this
genus comprises more than 100 species distributed in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bhutan, NE India and
Japan (Möller et al. 2016).
During a field investigation in 2015 in Hunan province, one possible new species of Gesneriaceae was found
in Xinhua County. The population was characterized by zygomorphic corolla, 2-paired stamens, ringlike disc and
loculicidal capsules. According to the above characteristics, we determine it belongs to Oreocharis s.l.. After a detailed
morphological comparison with all described species of Oreocharis (Pan 1986, 1987, Pan & Liu 1995, Wang et al.
1998, Li & Wang 2004, He 2006, Wei et al. 2010, Möller et al. 2011, Liu et al. 2012, Chen et al. 2013, 2014, 2015,
2016, 2017, Möller 2014, Möller et al. 2014, Tan et al. 2014, 2015, Li & Li 2015, Yang et al. 2015a, 2015b, 2017, Wei
et al. 2016, Li et al. 2017, Van Do et al. 2017), we confirmed that the collection represents a new species, which we
describe below.
Taxonomic treatment
Oreocharis purpurata B.Pan, M.Q.Han & Yan Liu, sp. nov. (Figs. 1–2).
Diagnosis: Oreocharis purpurata is similar to O. pinnatilobata (K.Y.Pan 1986: 34) Mich.Möller & A.Weber in Möller et al. (2011: 25),
differing from the latter species by the forming a projection in the near middle region of abaxial corolla (vs none), throat have two
ridges with glands (vs none), abaxial lip with a dark purple central stripe and a greenish-yellow spot at their base with reddish lines
(vs none), and anthers are bent downward (vs upward).
Type:—CHINA. Hunan: Xinhua County, Youxi Town, Zhongru Village, 28° 05′ N, 111°23′ E, growing on moist shady hillside on
limestone hills, ca. 178 m, 11 August 2015, Bo Pan & M. Q. Han HMQ859 (holotype IBK!).
Perennial herb. Leaves in basal rosette. Petiole 1–3 cm long, densely brown villous; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 2.5–
5×1–2 cm, adaxially pubescent, abaxially pubescent and brown villous along the veins, base cuneate, margin dentate,
apex acute to obtuse; lateral veins 5–8 on each side of midrib, abaxially prominent. Peduncles 5–10 cm long, sparsely
glandular-pubescent; bracts 2, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm long, villous. Pedicel 2.5–3 cm long. Calyx 5-lobed nearly to

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FIGURE 1. Oreocharis purpurata. (A) Habit, (B) Flower with mature pistil, (C) Flower with immature pistil, (D) Flower in side view,
(E) Immature pistil with calyx, (F) Anther pair, back view, (G) Anther pair, front view, and (H) detail of leaf blade. Drawn by Wen-Hong
Lin.
base, lobes linear-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm long, outside villous, margin entire. Corolla bilabiate, inside glabrous, outside
pale purple and sparsely glandular-pubescent; tube narrowly tubular, abaxial tube near middle with a 10–15 mm long
projection, slightly constricted at throat, two ridges with glands; adaxial lip ca. 5 mm long, 2-lobed nearly to the base,
lobes lanceolate-ovate, 4–5 × 2–3 mm, apex acute; abaxial lip 3-lobed to middle, with a dark purple central stripe and
a green-yellow spot at their base with reddish lines, lobes oblong, ca. 7 mm long, apex acute to rounded. Stamens 4,
coherent, adnate above base of corolla tube, included, adaxial stamens ca. 9 mm long, abaxial stamens ca. 11 mm long;
filaments glabrous; anthers reniform, downward, dosifixed, longitudinal dehiscence, black purple, coherent in two

OREOCHARIS PURPURATA Phytotaxa 328 (2) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 185
pairs; staminode 1, adnate above base of corolla tube, ca. 1.5 mm long. Disc ringlike, ca. 1 mm high, glabrous. Pistil
included at beginning of flowering, ca. 6 mm long, then distinctly exserted ca. 4 mm, ca.18 mm long, glabrous; ovary
narrowly oblong, stigma 2-lobed. Capsule elliptic, 3.6–4.0 cm long.
FIGURE 2. Oreocharis purpurata. (A–B) Habit, (C) Flower in side view, (D) Flower in front view, (E) Throat with two glanbular ridges,
(F) Abaxial lip, (G) Stamens with anthers coherent in two pairs, (H–J) Anthers are bent downward, (K) Pistil, and (L) Habitat.

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Distribution and habitat:—Oreocharis purpurata was observed to grow on moist shady cliffs on limestone hills,
at elevation ca. 200 m in Youxi town, Xinhua County and Mei River Scenic Area, Lianyuan City, Hunan Province of
China.
Etymology:—The epithet refers to the corolla which is with purple stripes.
Phenology:—Flowering from September to October and fruiting from October to December.
FIGURE 3. Oreocharis pinnatilobata (A–E) and O. purpurata (F–K). (A & F) Habit, (B & G) Flower in front view, (C & H) Flower in
side view, (D & J) Dissected corollas, and (E & K) Pistil.

OREOCHARIS PURPURATA Phytotaxa 328 (2) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 187
Vernacular name:—Chinese mandarin: Zǐwén mǎ líng jù tái (紫纹马铃苣苔).
Notes:—The new species have narrowly tubular corolla tube, the adnate of filaments in corolla tube near base and
the anthers are coherent in pairs. These features indicate it belongs to the original Isometrum Craib (1919: 250). The
new species develops a rare corolla structure with two glandular ridges, which is distinct from all other species of the
original Isometrum and most species of the Oreocharis. The new species have nearly cylindric corolla tube and dentate
leaf blade, which are similar to O. pinnatilobata. However, these two species have obvious differences in several
characters and their detailed morphological comparison is provided in Table 1 and Figure 3.
TABLE 1. Morphological comparison between Oreocharis purpurata and O. pinnatilobata.
Characters O. purpurata O. pinnatilobata
Leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 2.5–5 × 1–2 cm, margin dentate, apex
acute to obtuse
oblanceolate, 1.5–5 × 0.8–1.5 cm, margin lobulate, apex
acute
Leaf vestiture adaxially pubescent, abaxially pubescent and brown
villous along the veins
adaxially grayish white pubescent, abaxially pale brown
pubescent
Corolla pale purple, outside sparsely glandular-pubescent blue-purple, outside sparsely pubescent
Tube narrowly tubular, abaxial tube near middle with a
projection, 10–15 × 4 mm, slightly constricted at throat
nearly cylindric, ca. 8 × 3–4 mm
Throat two ridges with glands no ridges with glands
Adaxial lip lobes lanceolate-ovate lobes orbicular
Abaxial lip with a dark purple central stripe and a green-yellow
spots at their base with reddish lines, lobes oblong
lobes orbicular
Stamens 9–11 mm 2.5–3 mm
Anthers downward upward
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. Wei-Bin Xu for his constructive suggestions and the photographs of O. pinnatilobata,
to Dr Yang Dong for his constructive suggestions, to Mr. Wen-Hong Lin for the beautiful drawing and Cui-Yuan Feng
for the habitat photographs of O. pinnatilobata. We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This
study was supported in part by the Foundation of Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable
Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant no. PCU201401). This study was
also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 41161011) and the Natural Science
Foundation of Guangxi (2013GXNSFBA019078).
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