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Issue: Vol. 275 No. 2: 19 September 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-09-19
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.275.2.7
Page range: 159–167
Abstract views: 18
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of Smilax (Smilacaceae) from Yunnan, China

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.
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.
Department of Environment and Forest Resources, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, South Korea.
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
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.
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.
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.
Heterosmilax Smilax hirtellicaulis floral trait phylogeny taxonomy Monocots

Abstract

A new species, Smilax hirtellicaulis (Smilacaceae), from southwestern China is described and illustrated. The new species differs from all known Smilax species in its unique tepals, i.e., basally connate in male flowers but separate in female flowers. Phylogenetic analysis supports its species delimitation, and suggests a sister position to the clade of Smilax sect. Heterosmilax which have flowers with connate tepals. Their closest phylogenetic relationship and resembled flower morphology may represent an evolutionary transition from separate to united tepals in Smilax. It thus provides us an ideal model for studying the evolution and development of such an innovative floral trait.