Tuesday, March 10, 2026

[Botany • 2026] Sadiria kachinensis (Primulaceae: Myrsinoideae) • A New Species from Myanmar


Sadiria kachinensis Utteridge & Nob.Tanaka,

in UtteridgeArmstrong, Yoneda et Tanaka. 2026.  
 
Abstract
Sadiria kachinensis from Kachin State, Myanmar is described and illustrated as a species new to science. It is morphologically similar to S. boweri and S. solanifolia but differs in several characters especially the smaller leaves on the vegetative shoots and the flowering branches, larger inflorescences and petals, and smaller sepals. In addition, this new species is compared to S. eugeniifolia var. burmanica, the only other member of Sadiria in Myanmar.

 Burma, Ericales, Indo-China, South-East Asia, taxonomy, Eudicots

Sadiria kachinensis Utteridge & Nob.Tanaka.
 A habit; B detail of leaf margin; C inflorescences; D flower; E single calyx lobe; F detail of overlapping corolla lobes; G flower opened to show stamens opposite the corolla lobes; H ovary and style (flower with corolla removed); I stamen abaxial view; J stamen adaxial view; K ovary; L fruit with persistent style.
Drawn from Armstrong et al. 4307 (TNS). Scale bars: A = 3 cm, C, D, G, H, L = 5 mm, E & F = 1 mm, I, J & K = 3 mm. Illustration by Kaoru Yoneda.

Sadiria kachinensis Utteridge & Nob.Tanaka.
A. habit; B. plagiotropic (flowering) branch with inflorescences and flowers pre-anthesis; C. plagiotropic branch with fruits; D. inflorescence/flower detail, note exserted styles in the flowers on the right hand side; E. fruit detail, note persistent style (dry and black).
 Photographed by Kate Armstrong.

Sadiria kachinensis Utteridge & Nob.Tanaka, sp. nov. 

 Recognised in the genus Sadiria by the leaves (ortho- and plagiotropic) drying greenish and the shorter plagiotropic reproductive branches, and unique amongst those species in the combination of the following characters: 3–4 leaves in pseudowhorls along the erect (orthotropic) stems, these orthotropic leaves, elliptic and 9.5–13 × 3.5–4.5 cm; the lateral plagiotropic (reproductive) flower-bearing branches (4–)6.5–11 cm long, with 3(–5) leaves along the length of the branch; orthotropic and reproductive shoots leaves drying green; pendulous inflorescences sessile or with a very short rachis to 2 mm long; the corolla fused for approximately three-quarters of its length; stamens with anthers 2 mm long; and the style conspicuously exserted at anthesis and extending ca. 3 mm beyond the apex of the corolla lobes.


Timothy UTTERIDGE, Kate E. ARMSTRONG, Kaoru YONEDA and Nobuyuki TANAKA. 2026. Sadiria kachinensis (Myrsinoideae, Primulaceae), A New Species from Myanmar.  Phytotaxa. 744(3); 205-211. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.744.3.1 [2026-03-10]