Abstract
Gastrodia kachinensis, a new species of Orchidaceae, is described and illustrated from Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar. It is morphologically similar to G. gracilis, presumably its nearest relative, but can be easily distinguished from the latter by having perianth tube with punctate outer surface, verrucose outer surface of sepal lobe, orbicular petals, ovate-elliptic lip with truncate apex and auriculate-clawed base, glabrous lip apex with a pair of twin protuberance-like lamellae and column with a pair of blade-like lateral wings and acute stelidia at apex. Identification key and colour photographs are provided. A preliminary risk-of-extinction assessment, according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, is given for the new species.
Highlights
Morphological characters of the new species, Gastrodia gracilis Blume and other related species, were based on dried herbarium specimens deposited at the Chinese National Herbarium (PE) and on the high resolution photographs of live plants provided by Tian-Chuan Hsu and Xiao-Hua Jin
Gastrodia kachinensis is similar to G. gracilis, but it can be distinguished from the latter by having perianth tube with punctate outer surface, verrucose outer surface of sepal lobe, orbicular petals, ovate-elliptic lip with truncate apex and auriculate-clawed base, glabrous lip with a pair of twin protuberance-like lamellae only at apex and column with a pair of blade-like lateral wings and acute stelidia at apex
Gastrodia kachinensis is a terrestrial mycoheterotrophic species that grows in broad-leaved, evergreen forest at 1400 m in elevation
Summary
There is no record of Gastrodia in the checklist of Myanmar (Kress et al 2003), two species of Gastrodia were newly recorded in Myanmar recently (Kurzweil and Lwin 2014, Jin and Kyaw 2017). During fieldwork in Putao, Kachin State, Northern Myanmar, in May 2017, a new species of Gastrodia was discovered and is described below
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