Recently, with the support of the Key Area R&D Program of Guangdong Province, a team led by senior engineer Zulin Ning from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered a new species of the Aspidistra genus – Aspidistra yangchunensis S.P. Dong & Z.L. Ning. The findings were published in Phytotaxa, a journal of plant taxonomy.
The Yangchun Spiderwort. Research team provides image.
The first author of the paper, Dong Shupeng, an engineer at the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated that the Spiderwort belongs to the Asparagaceae family, a genus unique to Asia. It is mainly distributed in southern China and adjacent areas of Vietnam, with a few species found in Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and northeastern India. The morphological characteristics of this genus are highly diverse, with most of its flowers growing close to the ground, making them extremely concealed and hard to detect. This has led to insufficient historical specimen collection, hindering taxonomic research on this genus.
The "Flora of China" records only 8 species of Spiderwort in China and a total of 11 worldwide. The revised English edition of the "Flora of China" lists approximately 55 species of Spiderwort worldwide, with 49 species found in China. Over the past 20 years, as plant resource surveys have deepened, a large number of new species of Spiderwort have been discovered and published, increasing the number of species in this genus to around 220, with over half of them distributed in China.
In September 2023, during a field survey of wild plants in the Ehuangzhang Nature Reserve in Yangchun, Guangdong, the Ning Zulin team collected a uniquely flowered species of Spiderwort. Through a comparative study of the model specimens and original literature of this genus, they confirmed it as a new species previously undescribed in the Spiderwort genus.
This new species is morphologically similar to the Radiant Spiderwort, but its flower parts are different. In this new species, the petals are flat, with 4 petals alternating downward and 4 petals alternating flat. The pistils are pure white, and the stigma folds inward to form a circular space, showing distinct differences in morphological characteristics from other species in the genus. Based on the collection location of the model specimen in Guangdong Province, Yangchun City, it has been named the Yangchun Spiderwort.
Yangchun spider embracing eggs. Note: (A) Habitat; (B) Leaves; (C) Flowers, top view; (D) Flowers, side view; (E) Late stage of flower; (F) Pedicel and flower; (G) Flower with stamens after removal of stigma; (H) Stigma, top view; (I) Stigma, bottom view; (J) Longitudinal section of stigma. Image provided by the research team.
Related paper information: https://doi.org/10.11646/PHYTOTAXA.647.1.6
