Elsholtzia lamprophylla (Lamiaceae): A new species from Sichuan, southwest China

Abstract

ber subglobose, 0.5–2 cm in diameter. Cataphylls dark purple, mottled with snakeskin pattern. Pseudostem 6.5–7.5 cm long. Leaf 1, petiole 15–16 cm long, similar to cataphyll in color, free part 8– 10 cm; leaf blade 3-foliolate, central leaflet ovate-oblong to rhombicelliptic, 6–8.5 × 3–5.5 cm, base attenuate, apex acuminate, with a 1–3 mm arista at tip, lateral leaflets similar to central one, but asymmetrical at base, 5.5–9.5 × 2.5–3.5 cm. Peduncle approximately as long as petiole; spathe ca. 5 cm long, tube funnel-shaped, ca. 2 cm long, 7 mm thick, greenish longitudinally purple-dotted, base white, mouth-margins obliquely truncate, limb ovate, apex acuminate, 2.5– 3.5 × 1.1 cm, green, with a white traverse patch at base, spadix male only seen, ca. 1 cm long; male flowers sparse, synandria of (1–)2(–3) stamens, shortly stipitate to subsessile, thecae whitish with purple top, dehiscent by a rounded pore, pollen white; spadix-appendix sessile, 2–2.5 cm long, basal 3/5 part dark purple, with scattered, ca. 2 mm long, subulate neuters, upper 2/5 part exerted out of the spathe tube, yellow-green, covered with 3–6 mm long, filiform, bristly projections. Distribution and ecology: Arisaema guangxiense is found in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region at Jingxi and Longan counties, growing in groups in humus soil in rock crevices on limestone hills at altitudes from 300 to 720 m. Sometimes two shoots grow up from one big tuber and become two individuals in the coming year. Chromosome number: 2n = 26 (S5-2. Fig. 2). Notes: Arisaema guangxiense belongs to Arisaema section Fimbriata. It resembles A. austroyunnanense, but obviously differs by its shorter plant height, only to 20 cm tall; pseudostem, petiole