Abstract
An investigation of a questionable species of the genus Alseodaphne led to the discovery of a new genus Alseodaphnopsis H. W. Li & J. Li, gen. nov., separated from Alseodaphne Nees, and a new species Alseodaphnopsis ximengensis H. W. Li & J. Li, sp. nov., endemic to Yunnan province, China. This new species is characterized by having big, axillary, paniculate inflorescences, as well as large, subglobose fruits. Based on DNA sequence data from two gene regions (nuclear ribosomal ITS and LEAFY intron II), we investigate its phylogenetic position within the Persea group. Phylogenies using maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian inference (BI) support the recognition of Alseodaphnopsis as a distinct genus but do not resolve well its relationship within the Persea group. The new genus is circumscribed, eight new combinations for its species are made, and a description and illustration of the new species are provided.
Highlights
The Persea group is a subset of the Lauraceae, including seven currently recognized genera, Alseodaphne Nees, Apollonias Nees, Dehaasia Bl., Machilus Rumph. ex Nees, Nothaphoebe Bl., Persea Mill., and Phoebe Nees, containing a total of 400 to 450 species [1,2]
A comparison of morphological characters among the different species of Alseodaphne revealed two groups, consisting of species mainly distributed in tropical Asia and species mainly distributed in the northern marginal zone of the tropics in southwestern Changchang Basin of Hainan Island (China), respectively
Machilus clade and Phoebe clade—These two clades have been retrieved in almost identical composition and topology in an earlier analysis [2], so that there is no need to discuss them here again
Summary
The Persea group is a subset of the Lauraceae, including seven currently recognized genera, Alseodaphne Nees, Apollonias Nees, Dehaasia Bl., Machilus Rumph. ex Nees, Nothaphoebe Bl., Persea Mill., and Phoebe Nees, containing a total of 400 to 450 species [1,2]. The Persea group is a subset of the Lauraceae, including seven currently recognized genera, Alseodaphne Nees, Apollonias Nees, Dehaasia Bl., Machilus Rumph. Most of these species are native to tropical and subtropical Asia, whereas ~20% are distributed in warm-temperate to tropical regions of America [1,2]. Phoebe formed well-supported monophyletic groups, and the genus Alseodaphne was not monophyletic [1,2]. The relationships of species within and among the Alseodaphne clades are still not well resolved
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