Abstract
BackgroundHainan is the largest island of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot and has the best preserved and most extensive tropical forests in China. A recent study on distribution of endangered species in China identifies southern Hainan as one of eight hotspots for plant conservation in the country. In continuation of our studies of Asian Begonia, we report the discovery of an attractive undescribed species, B. wuzhishanensis C.-I Peng, X.H. Jin & S.M. Ku, from Hainan Island.ResultsLiving plant of the new species, Begonia wuzhishanensis, was collected in 2009 and cultivated in the experimental greenhouse for morphological and cytological studies. It flowered consecutively in 2012 and 2013 in the experimental greenhouse, Academia Sinica. It was assigned to the large, heterogeneous sect. Diploclinium. The chromosome number of this new species was determined to be 2n = 26.ConclusionsA careful study of literature, herbarium specimens and living plants, both in the wild and in cultivation, support the recognition of the new species Begonia wuzhishanensis, which is described in this paper. Begonia wuzhishanensis is currently known only from Fanyang, Wuzhishan Mountain in the center of the island. A line drawing, color plate, and a distribution map are provided to aid in identification.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-55-24) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Hainan is the largest island of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot and has the best preserved and most extensive tropical forests in China
The island harbors the Hainan Island Monsoon Rain Forest Ecoregion, one of the 26 terrestrial habitats of China internationally recognized by the World Wildlife Fund for its global ecological importance (Francisco-Ortega et al 2010)
Begoniaceae], a new species from Luzon Island, Philippines, submitted), we report the discovery of an additional undescribed species, B. wuzhishanensis, endemic to the island
Summary
Hainan is the largest island of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot and has the best preserved and most extensive tropical forests in China. A recent study on distribution of endangered species in China identifies southern Hainan as one of eight hotspots for plant conservation in the country. Hainan is the largest island of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot and has the best preserved and most extensive tropical forests in China (Deng et al 2008; Zang and Ding 2009). A recent study on distribution of endangered species in China identifies southern Hainan as one of eight hotspots for plant conservation in the country (Zhang and Ma 2008). In Hainan eight species of Begonia, four of which endemic
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