Oreocharis xieyongii, an unusual new species of Gesneriaceae from western Hunan, China

A new species, Oreocharis xieyongii T. Deng, D.G. Zhang & H. Sun, from Hunan Province, central China, is described. The combination of purple zygomorphic corolla with longer adaxial lobes and exserted stamens defines the species and discriminates it from all other current Oreocharis species. Morphological traits of the new species were compared to those of two similar species, Oreocharis xiangguiensis and O. rubrostriata. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the new species is nested within the Oreocharis. Although only half of Oreocharis species were included in our study, evolutionary character analysis indicates that the ancestral states of the genus are likely the purple corolla, longer abaxial lip and inserted stamens. The longer adaxial lip is perhaps an apomorphy and only present in O. xieyongii and O. rubrostriata. Both morphological and molecular evidence suggest that O. xieyongii is a taxon new to science. Copyright (c) 2022 Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

A new plant species, Oreocharis xieyongii, is described from Hunan Province, central China. Its distinctive features include a purple zygomorphic corolla with longer adaxial lobes and exserted stamens, which set it apart from other Oreocharis species. Phylogenetic analysis reveals its placement within the Oreocharis genus. Comparative analysis with similar species highlights the unique traits of O. xieyongii. The study provides both morphological and molecular evidence supporting the recognition of O. xieyongii as a new taxon.