New distribution records of two bamboo species in Yunnan, China with description of the inflorescence for Melocalamus yunnanensis (Poaceae, Bambusoideae).

De-Zhu Li,Xiaying Ye,Yuxiao Zhang,Pingyuan Wang,Xianzhi Zhang,Hongmei Yang

doi:10.3897/phytokeys.62.7276

Abstract

Ampelocalamus actinotrichus (Merrill & Chun) S. L. Chen, T. H. Wen & G. Y. Sheng and Neomicrocalamus prainii (Gamble) P. C. Keng are reported with new distribution records in southern and southeastern Yunnan, China, respectively. Ampelocalamus actinotrichus was previously recorded to be endemic to Hainan, China, and Neomicrocalamus prainii to be distributed in southern Tibet and western Yunnan in China, northeastern India, and Burma. The identities of individuals collected in southern and southeastern Yunnan of these two species are confirmed by molecular evidence. The new distribution record of Ampelocalamus actinotrichus provides a case at the species level for confirming floristic affinities of southern Yunnan and Hainan Island in south China. The disjunct distribution of Neomicrocalamus prainii in Yunnan is concordant with the ecogeographical diagonal line from northwestern Yunnan to southeastern Yunnan and this may imply a tropical origin of this species. In addition, the inflorescence of Melocalamus yunnanensis (T. H. Wen) T. P. Yi is described.

Highlights

Morphological descriptions, distributions, and pictures of most bamboo species and genera in China have been recorded in the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (FRPS) (Keng and Wang 1996), the Flora of China (Li et al 2006), and the Iconographia Bambusoidearum Sinicarum (Yi et al 2008), there are still many aspects that need to be changed incorporating findings from molecular phylogenetic analyses, the re-evaluation of morphological characters, and additional field investigations
The statistical support was shown along the branches (MP/maximum likelihood (ML)/Bayesian inference (BI))
All individuals of Ampelocalamus formed a clade with high support (MP/ML/BI = 98/98/1.00)

Summary

Introduction

Distributions, and pictures of most bamboo species and genera in China have been recorded in the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (FRPS) (Keng and Wang 1996), the Flora of China (Li et al 2006), and the Iconographia Bambusoidearum Sinicarum (Yi et al 2008), there are still many aspects that need to be changed incorporating findings from molecular phylogenetic analyses, the re-evaluation of morphological characters, and additional field investigations. During our field work from 2012 to 2014, two distinct bamboo species were noted. One occurs in Xishuangbanna, southern Yunnan, China, which was initially identified as “Ampelocalamus menglaensis” Hsueh & F. The other is distributed in Malipo, southeastern Yunnan, China, where it is called “teng zhu” (climbing bamboo) by local people, and was tentatively identified as Neomicrocalamus prainii (Gamble) P.

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