A taxonomic revision of Gaultheria series Trichophyllae (Ericaceae)

Abstract

The last taxonomic revision of Gaultheria series Trichophyllae (Ericaceae), a clade of high-elevation species endemic to the Himalaya-Hengduan Shan region of east-central Asia, was published in 1941. Since then, a number of new species have been described and other taxonomic changes have occurred in the group, prompting the need for a comprehensive revision. The present treatment of the series comprises 21 species, including Gaultheria x biluoensis, a newly described hybrid between G. crassifolia and G. major. A key to species and species descriptions is provided, and lectotypes are newly designated for G. cardiosepala, G. gonggashanensis, G. marronina, and G. stenophylla.

Patterns of genetic variation and morphology support the recognition of five species in the Gaultheria leucocarpa Blume (Ericaceae) group from mainland China

“…Marginal indumentum of the calyx lobes, an overlooked character in Middleton's classification of Gaultheria (Middleton, 1991), was later found to be useful as a character for species identification in G . series Trichophyllae (Fritsch et al, 2015, 2016; Fritsch & Lu, 2020), and now it is clear that it is also useful for the G. leucocarpa group. Variation in the indumentum of the calyx and corolla was also found to be good characters for diagnosing G. leucocarpa var.…”

“…Shape and openness of the calyx at fruiting have been commonly neglected in the taxonomy of Gaultheria species because of deformation of the fruit after pressing and drying on herbarium specimens but were found to be key characters in the taxonomy of the core East Asian clade, especially that of G . series Trichophyllae (Fritsch et al, 2011, 2015; Fritsch & Lu, 2020; Lu et al, 2010). We found that the fruiting calyces of G. pingbienensis are oblate spheroidal and closed, whereas those of the YLC population are elongate‐spheroidal and open.…”

“…From these characters, 19 quantitative and six qualitative characters were used for principal component analysis. Most characters were selected on the basis of our 18‐year taxonomic investigation and other work, which found these characters to be diagnostic for species delimitation of Gaultheria (Fritsch & Lu, 2020; Lu et al, 2010; Middleton, 1991). The 19 quantitative characters for PCA are (1) plant height, (2) maximal width of the stem base, (3) maximal blade length of the leaf borne at the basal position of a branch, (4) maximal blade length of leaf borne at the central position of a branch, (5) maximal blade length of leaf borne at the upper position of a branch, (6) mean value of leaf blade length on a branch [formula: [(3) + (4) + (5)]/(3)], (7) maximal blade width of leaf borne at the basal position of a branch, (8) maximal blade width of leaf borne at the central position of a branch, (9) maximal blade width of leaf borne at the upper position of a branch, (10) mean value of leaf blade width on a branch [formula: [(7) + (8) + (9)]/(3)], (11) number of marginal teeth on the blade of a leaf borne at the basal position of a branch, (12) number of marginal teeth on the blade of a leaf borne at the central position of a branch, (13) number of marginal teeth on the blade of a leaf borne at the upper position of a branch, (14) mean value of the number of leaf marginal teeth of a branch [formula: [(11) + (12) + (13)]/(3)], (15) number of flowers in an inflorescence, (16) length of bract (at the pedicel base), (17) maximal length of corolla, (18) maximal width of corolla, and (19) ratio of style length to the polar axis of young fruit (Appendix S4).…”

Plastome characteristics and species identification of Chinese medicinal wintergreens (Gaultheria, Ericaceae)

“…Some Gaultheria species are commonly called wintergreens because they produce wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate), which is widely used in drugs, pesticides, cosmetics, and foods ( Nikolić et al., 2013 ; Aruna et al., 2014 ; Luo et al., 2018 ). In China, nine out of 47 Gaultheria species are widely used as Chinese medicinal wintergreens and traditional medicine by more than nine ethnic minorities ( Lu et al., 2019a ; Fritsch and Lu, 2020 ; our own field investigations in 2007). Gaultheria species are polyphyletic and include G .…”