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| Neottia bifidus M.N.Wang, in Wang, Wu, Tan, Yu, Rao, Chen, Li et Chen. 2023. |
Abstract
Neottia bifidus, a new mycoheterotrophic orchid, found in Maolan National Nature Reserve in Guizhou Province, China, is described and illustrated here. The new species is close to N. nidus-avis, N. kiusiana and N. papilligera but differs in having a finely pubescent rachis with fewer flowers, a finely pubescent pedicel, and a fishtail-shaped lip that is deeply bilobed to the middle of the lip, with the lobes diverging at an acute angle (45°) to each other and mesochile with many papillae. Additionally, N. bifidus is well supported as a new species by molecular phylogenetic results based on ITS and chloroplast genome. The chloroplast genome of the novelty, which contains an LSC region of 33,819 bp, SSC region of 5,312 bp and IRs of 46,762 bp was assembled and annotated. A key to mycoheterotrophic Neottia species in China is also provided.
Key words: Neottia bifidus, new species, Orchidaceae, saprophytic orchid
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| Neottia bifidus M.N.Wang, sp. nov. A whole plant B flower (front view) C flower (side view) D dorsal sepal E lateral sepal F petal G lip (front view) H bracts I ovary, column and lip (side view) J ovary and column (ventral view) K column L fruit with bract M fruit (cross section) N anther cap P hairy on rachis. |
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| Neottia bifidus M.N.Wang, sp. nov. A habit B whole plant and hairy on rachis C inflorescence D flower (front view) E ovary and flower (side view) and hairy on ovary F dorsal sepal G, H lateral sepals I, J petals K lip (front view, back view and side view) L bract M ovary and column N column O fruit with bract P fruit (cross section) Q Anther cap. Photographed by M. N. Wang & W. H. Rao. |
Neottia bifidus M.N.Wang, sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Neottia bifidus is morphologically similar to N. nidus-avis, N. kiusiana and N. papilligera but differs in having a finely pubescent rachis, with fewer flowers; finely pubescent pedicel; and fish-tail-shaped lip, deeply 2-lobed to the centre of mid-lip, lobes diverging at an acute angle (45°) to one another, mesochile with many papilloses (Table 4).
Etymology: The species epithet refers to the fish-tail-shaped lip of the new species.
Mei-Na Wang, Xin-Yi Wu, Cheng-Jiang Tan, Ping Yu, Wen-Hui Rao, Jie-Shan Chen, Jian Li and Jian-Bing Chen. 2023. Neottia bifidus (Orchidaceae, Epidendroideae, Neottieae), A New mycoheterotrophic Species from Guizhou, China. PhytoKeys. 229: 215-227. DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.229.103107
