A novel actinobacterium, designated strain NEAU-GS14T, was isolated from soil of a flower bed in a residential area in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, and characterized using a polyphasic approach. Morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics of the strain coincided with members of the genus Herbidospora. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain NEAU-GS14T belongs to the genus Herbidospora and was most closely related to Herbidospora daliensis JCM 18061T (98.8 %), other type strains of species of the genus Herbidospora were found to be less than 98.7 %. Phylogenetic analysis using the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the strain formed a cluster with Herbidospora daliensis JCM 18061T. Cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the major diamino acid and the whole-cell hydrolysates were glucose, madurose and ribose. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, hydroxyphosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphoglycolipids and two phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The predominant menaquinone was MK-10(H4). Major fatty acids were 10-methly C17 : 0 and C17 : 0, these chemotaxonomic data supported the affiliation of strain NEAU-GS14T to the genus Herbidospora. The DNA G+C content was 70.6 mol%. Furthermore, the strain could be clearly distinguished by digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values and some phenotypic characteristics. Therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-GS14T represents a novel species of the genus Herbidospora, for which the name Herbidospora galbida sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-GS14T (=CCTCC AA 2018040T=JCM 33459T).