Aster quanzhouensis (Asteraceae), a new riparian species from eastern China

Abstract

Aster quanzhouensis sp. nov. (Asteraceae) from Fujian, eastern China, is described and illustrated. It grows on rocks in the riparian zone. Morphological, cytological and molecular investigations of A. quanzhouensis were carried out. The morphological data and phylogenetic analysis based on combined ITS, ETS and trnL-F dataset suggest that A. quanzhouensis is a separate species closely related to A. tonglingensis. The new species differs from the latter by the shorter stem length, leaf morphology, colour of phyllaries, number of ray florets, and achene shape. The cytological observation shows that the new species is diploid with a karyotype of 2n = 18.