Two new species of Yushania (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) from South China, with a taxonomic revision of related species

Abstract

Two new species of Yushania (Poaceae, Bambusoideae, Arundinarieae) are described and illustrated from Hunan, China. Yushania longshanensis D.Z. Li & X.Y. Ye is distinguished from related species (Y. confusa, Y. angustifolia and Y. pachyclada) by having a thinner culm (0.2–0.3 cm in diameter), glabrous sheath scar, no oral setae, a large glabrous leaf blade (10–20 × 0.9–1.3 cm) and 3–4 pairs of secondary veins. Yushania stoloniforma D.Z. Li & X.Y. Ye has a distinctive scrambling habit, which differs from its putative close allies. Both of these two new species have a solitary branch at the basal nodes and can be assigned to Yushania sect. Yushania based on morphological features. Additionally, we treated Yushania gigantea T.P. Yi & L. Yang as a new synonym of Y. elevata T.P. Yi and renamed Y. microphylla T.P. Yi & L. Yang as Y. weiningensis D.Z. Li & X.Y. Ye.

Keywords

• Arundinarieae
• Yushania
• Hunan
• New species
• Taxonomy