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| Rhododendron kuomeianum Y.H. Chang, J. Nielsen & Y.P. Ma, in Chang, Yao, Neilsen, Liu, Zhang et Ma, 2021. |
Abstract
Rhododendron kuomeianum Y.H. Chang, J. Nielsen & Y.P. Ma, a new species of Rhododendron (Ericaceae) within subsect. Maddenia in sect. Rhododendron from Yiliang County, NE Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated. The new species is similar to R. valentinianum, but it can be easily distinguished by its sparse scales on the abaxial surface of the leaf blade, fewer flowers per inflorescence and white corolla with pale red margins. There are also differences in the widths of calyx lobes, leaf blade shape and indumentum characteristics of the petiole between the new species and Rhododendron linearilobum. We confirmed that R. kuomeianum is a new species closely related to R. valentinianum and R. changii with phylogenomic studies of 10 species within this subsection based on restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) data. These phylogenomic analyses also clarified additional taxonomic problems in this subsection previously raised by morphological analysis. Our findings make a strong case for using next-generation sequencing to explore phylogenetic relationships and identify new species, especially in plants groups with complicated taxonomic problems.
Keywords: Rhododendron, New species, RAD-seq, Phylogenetic position
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| Illustrations of Rhododendron kuomeianum Y.H. Chang, J. Nielsen & Y.P. Ma sp. nov. (A) habit; (B) corolla; (C) dissected corolla; (D) inflorescence bud; (E) flower bud; (F) stamen; (G) pistil and calyx; (H) leaf adaxial surface; (I) leaf abaxial surface; (J) distribution of scales on the adaxial surface of the leaf blade; (K) single scale on the abaxial surface of leaf blade; (L) capsule. Drawn by R.M. Zhang. |
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| Rhododendron kuomeianum Y.H. Chang, J. Nielsen & Y.P. Ma sp. nov. (A–B) plant and habitat; (C–D) leaf; (E) inflorescence bud; (F) corolla anatomy; (G) fruit. Scale bar = 1 cm. |
Rhododendron kuomeianum Y.H. Chang, J. Nielsen & Y.P. Ma sp. nov.
国楣杜鹃【guó méi dù juān】
Type. CHINA. Yunnan: Yiliang County Xiaocaoba Nature Reserve, ....
Diagnosis. Rhododendron kuomeianum resembles R. valentinianum in having a broadly elliptic to obovate leaf blade, dense rusty-yellow setae on the petiole, and a funnelform-campanulate corolla. It differs from R. valentinianum in having a white corolla with pale red margins (versus light to bright yellow), fewer flowers (1–2) per inflorescence (versus 2–4), and sparser distribution of scales on the abaxial surface of the leaf blade (1–2 × scales diameter apart) (versus 0.5 × scales diameter apart) (Table 1).
Etymology. The new species Rhododendron kuomeianum was named after Professor Kuo Mei Feng, a botanist and horticulturalist from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to honor his great contribution to research on the genus Rhododendron in China. In pinyin, the Chinese name is “Guó méi dù juān”.
Yu-Hang Chang, Gang Yao, Jens Neilsen, De-Tuan Liu, Lu Zhang and Yong-Peng Ma. 2021. Rhododendron kuomeianum (Ericaceae), A New Species from northeastern Yunnan (China), based on Morphological and Genomic Data. Plant Diversity. 43(4); 292-298. DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2021.04.003
