New Taxa from the A'nyêmaqên Shan Region of Eastern Qinghai Province, China

Abstract

Five new species and two varieties from Qinghai Province, China, are described, discussed, and compared with their closest presumed relatives. Cremanthodium microglossum (Asteraceae), Oxytropis qinghaiensis (Fabaceae), Comastoma jigzhiense (Gentianaceae), Gentiana clarkei var. lutescens (Gentianaceae), Parnassia qinghaiensis (Saxifragaceae), Pedicularis armata var. trimaculata (Scrophulariaceae), and Peristylus humidicolus (Orchidaceae). Two of the species are illustrated. From late July through August 1993, the authors explored the A'ny~maq~n mountain range of eastern Qinghai Province, China. This region is situated between latitude 32032'-35031'N and longitude 99030'-101?30'E. The average altitude of the region is over 4000 m. The highest peak, Maq~n Gangri, reaches 6282 m. The climate is cold, moist, and windy, and the vegetation is characterized by alpine species of genera such as Astragalus, Carex, Cremanthodium, Gentiana, Kobresia, Oxytropis, Pedicularis, Saussurea, and Saxifraga. The common woody plants in this area are low Potentilla and Salix shrubs, which are found at all but the highest elevations. At lower elevations there are scattered Juniperus przewalskii Maximowicz, although most of our collections were made above timberline. During the one month of fieldwork 1554 numbers and about 11,800 specimens were collected. The main sets of specimens so far have been distributed to A, BM, CAS, E, HNWP, and MO. Further sets remain to be distributed from HNWP. During routine determinations of all collections from this region we discovered the following five new species and two new varieties, which are additions to the published volumes of Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (Ho, 1988; Liu, 1989; Tsoong, 1968). Names of contributors are fully spelled in the acknowledgment section.