Gigantochloa glabrata (Poaceae, Bambusoideae), a new bamboo species from Yunnan, China.

De-Zhu Li,Zu-Chang Xu,Jing-Xia Liu

doi:10.3897/phytokeys.171.59562

Abstract

Gigantochloa glabrata N. H. Xia & Y. Zeng ex D. Z. Li & Z. C. Xu, sp. nov., a new species of paleotropical woody bamboo has been described and illustrated from Yunnan, China. The new species is morphologically similar to G. albociliata and G. levis, but differs from them by having erect culm sheath blades; culm sheath ligules 4–6 mm high, truncate, denticulate; and with a ring of white tomentum on the intranode and below the node. The new species was mistakenly identified as Gigantochloa albociliata in the Flora of China and was recognised with description of the vegetative characters in 2014, but it was not effectively published. Here, we designate a complete specimen with inflorescence as the type and describe it in accordance with the Code.

Highlights

Gigantochloa Kurz ex Munro was published as a new genus by Kurz (1864) without any detailed description
There are more than 60 species recognised in Gigantochloa from all over the world, which are distributed in the tropical lowlands of Southeast Asia (Holttum 1958; Widjaja 1987; Vorontsova et al 2016), with seven species recorded in China (Li et al 2006; Zeng et al 2014)
By studying the species of Gigantochloa from the Yunnan-Myanmar-Thailand floristic region, we found that G. albociliata, recorded in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (Keng and Wang 1996) and Flora of China (Li et al 2006) is not truly G. albociliata (Munro) Kurz

Summary

Introduction

Gigantochloa Kurz ex Munro was published as a new genus by Kurz (1864) without any detailed description. As a genus of paleotropical woody bamboo, Gigantochloa belongs to the subtribe Bambusinae Presl (BPG 2012). It was included in the Bambusa-DendrocalamusGigantochloa (BDG) complex, together with Bambusa Schreber, Dendrocalamus Nees and closely-related small genera (Goh et al 2010; Goh et al 2013; Zhou et al 2017). By studying the species of Gigantochloa from the Yunnan-Myanmar-Thailand floristic region, we found that G. albociliata, recorded in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (Keng and Wang 1996) and Flora of China (Li et al 2006) is not truly G. albociliata (Munro) Kurz. A new species needs to be described to clarify this long-existing taxonomic problem

Materials and methods

Discussion