New species of Peliosanthes, Rohdea and Tupistra (Asparagaceae) from Laos and Vietnam

Abstract

We describe and illustrate four new species, Peliosanthes choriandra, P. tatianae and Tupistra orlovii from central to northern Laos, and Rohdea filosa from northern Vietnam. These are all very local in distribution and endemic to the respective countries. We also report new localities and their ecological conditions for five other species of Peliosanthes (P. argenteostriata, P. hirsuta, P. irinae, P. micrantha and P. nivea) recently described from Laos and/or Vietnam. Furthermore, Peliosanthes nivea is recorded as new to the flora of Laos.

New species of Ophiopogon, Peliosanthes and Tupistra (Asparagaceae s.l.) in the flora of Vietnam

“…It also shares nutant flowers and low, nearly flat, broadly conical coronas with P. nutans Aver. & N. Tanaka (Averyanov and Tanaka ), but strikingly differs in having longer, erect or suberect flowering stems, more numerous, pure white flowers, and pistils of a different shape.…”

“…Indochina is very rich in species diversity, at least of several genera of Asparagaceae s.l. In our previous surveys, we found as many as 22 new species of the three genera in eastern Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), as listed below (Tanaka , , , , Averyanov , Averyanov and Tanaka , , Averyanov et al , , , Vislobokov et al ). Ophiopogon fruticulosus Aver., N. Tanaka & K. S. Nguyen O. petraeus Aver.…”

“…In more recent taxonomic treatises based on morphological and/or molecular studies, they have been placed in the Asparagaceae s.l. (Tanaka 2010a, 2010b, Averyanov and Tanaka 2012, 2015 or in the narrower family Ruscaceae s.l. (Kim et al 2010) or Convallariaceae (Dahlgren et al 1985, Conran and Tamura 1998, Tanaka 1999a, Yamashita and Tamura 2000.…”

Peliosanthes arunachalensis (Asparagaceae), a new species from north-eastern India

“…It spreads mainly in south and south-east of continental Asia, including Nepal, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indochina and Malaysia (Averyanov, Tanaka, 2012;Averyanov et al, 2015;Averyanov et al, 2016). But numerical diversity in the genus Peliosanthes is ambiguous in India.…”

“…The flowers were dissected, and detailed morphological study was carried out based on the herbarium specimens and in the fields described in label data. Later on consultation of the literature (Baker, 1879;Hooker, 1894;Tanaka, 1999Tanaka, , 2004Chen, Tamura, 2000;Averyanov, 2011;Averyanov, Tanaka, 2012Tanaka et al, 2013;Averyanov et al, 2014Averyanov et al, , 2015Averyanov et al, , 2016, it became apparent that the specimens studied were morphologically different from all other known taxa of the genus, which warrant its description as a new species. Table 1 demonstrates the morphological differences between the novelty and the allied species, P. sinica.…”