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Issue: Vol. 269 No. 2: 3 August 2016
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2016-08-03
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.269.2.7
Page range: 128–130
Abstract views: 19
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of Smilax (Smilacaceae) from southern islands of Kagoshima prefecture, Japan

College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Regulation, Hangzhou 310018, China.
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Regulation, Hangzhou 310018, China.
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Regulation, Hangzhou 310018, China.
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Regulation, Hangzhou 310018, China.
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Regulation, Hangzhou 310018, China.
Iriomote Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus,870 Uehara, Taketomi-cho, Yaeyama-gun, Okinawa, 907-1541, Japan
The Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education, and Laboratory of Systematic & Evolutionary Botany and Biodiversity, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Smilax Smilacaceae Japan

Abstract

Smilax Linnaeus (1753: 1028) is the only genus of Smilacaceae, comprising ca. 210 species, which are lianas, shrubs, and herbs (Cameron & Fu, 2006; Qi et al. 2013a). The genus shows a near-cosmopolitan distribution (Qi et al. 2013a). In the large genus, Smilax sect. Heterosmilax (Kunth 1850: 270) Judd (1998: 158), formerly treated as an independent genus Heterosmilax Kunth in Smilacaceae, has 12 species and is distributed only in Asian and Malesian regions (Judd 1998, Qi et al. 2013b). All species of the section have slender stem without pricks, cordate leaves, and tendrils in bronze color. Especially, flowers with connate perigone are one of the most important characteristics to distinguish the section from the other sections (Koyama 1984, Qi et al. 2013a).