Wuacanthus (Acanthaceae), a new Chinese endemic genus segregated from Justicia (Acanthaceae)

Abstract

A new genus, Wuacanthus Y.F. Deng, N.H. Xia & H. Peng (Acanthaceae), is described from the Hengduan Mountains, China. Wuacanthus is based on Wuacanthus microdontus (W.W.Sm.) Y.F. Deng, N.H. Xia & H. Peng, originally published in Justicia and then moved to Mananthes. The new genus is characterized by its shrub habit, strongly 2-lipped corolla, the 2-lobed upper lip, 3-lobed lower lip, 2 stamens, bithecous anthers, parallel thecae with two spurs at the base, 2 ovules in each locule, and the 4-seeded capsule. Phylogenetic analyses show that the new genus belongs to the Pseuderanthemum lineage in tribe Justicieae. Wuacanthus is closely related to Pseuderanthemum but differs from the latter by its shorter corolla tube and two minute spurs at the base of each anther-theca. W. microdontus is assessed with the status EN B2ab (iii) based on the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.

The complete chloroplast genome of a Chinese medicinal plant, Peristrophe japonica (Thunb.) Bremek. (Lamiales: Acanthaceae) from Nanjing, China

“…Strobilanthes tonkinensis and S. cusi a are as outgroups to construct the phylogenetic tree. As previously published by Deng et al ( 2016 ) Peristrophe form a separate group which is a sister of the genus Dicliptera ( Figure 1 ). There has no complete chloroplast genome sequence of other species in Peristrophe for reference.…”

Extraction and Microencapsulation of Bioactive Compounds from Muicle (Justicia spicigera) and Their Use in the Formulation of Functional Foods

“…The aqueous extract of Justicia spicigera leaves has a dark blue color, which has been used as a food coloring as well. This extract has shown antioxidant properties due to the phenolic compounds it contains [7,8]. Muicle contains phenolic compounds which provide an antioxidant activity that inhibits the oxidation process in the body; however, these compounds when extracted, are sensitive to environmental factors such as UV radiation, oxygen, and temperature, among others.…”

Justicia thailandica, a new species of Acanthaceae from Thailand

“…It is characterized by the tubular and bilabiate corolla with stylar furrow (rugula) in the upper lip, two stamens usually with the lower anther-theca spurred at base, “Knötchenpollen’’ pollen grains, and 4-(rarely 2-)seeded stalked capsules (Lindau 1894; Graham 1988; Hu et al 2011). The recent molecular evidence (Deng et al 2016; Kiel et al 2017) indicated that the genus Justicia in the broad sense is polyphyletic and might be further separated into several independent genera. At the moment, we follow the treatment of Graham (1988) who divided the genus into sixteen sections.…”