Two new species of Eriocaulon (Eriocaulaceae) from Laos
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ISSN: 0075-5974 (print) ISSN: 1874-933X (electronic)
Two new species of Eriocaulon (Eriocaulaceae) from Laos Phetlasy Souladeth1,2 , Shuichiro Tagane3, Mark F. Newman4
& Amornrat Prajaksood2
Summary. Two new species of Eriocaulon (Eriocaulaceae), E. cormosum and E. vientianense, from Laos, are described
and illustrated. Preliminary conservation assessments and vernacular names are provided. Key Words. Bolaven Plateau, Eriocaulon, Flora of Laos, Indochina, taxonomy, Vientiane.
Introduction Eriocaulon L. (Eriocaulaceae), with over 450 species, is a genus of annual or perennial herbs widely distributed from the tropics to mid-latitudes of all continents, and is the only genus of its family present in Asia (Leach 2017, 2018; Prajaksood et al. 2017). About 100 species of Eriocaulon have been recorded in the Asian region, including 35 species in China (13 endemics, Ma et al. 2000), 34 species in Japan (Satake 1940), and 36 in Thailand (19 endemics, Prajaksood & Chantaranothai 2002; Prajaksood et al. 2017; Khorngton et al. 2020). Twenty-seven species were reported in the Flore générale de l’Indo-Chine in 1912, three of which were found in Laos, namely, Eriocaulon alatum Lecomte, E. nautiliforme Lecomte and E. ubonense Lecomte (Lecomte 1912). Since then, additional collections and further taxonomic studies of the Flora of Laos have proceeded gradually. The most recent checklists of the country by Newman et al. (2007) and Jin et al. (2016), and a survey in Vientiane by Meesawat & Souladeth (2012) enumerated 21 species with two varieties in total (Table 1). Nomenclatural studies, carried out in preparation for a taxonomic revision of Eriocaulon for the Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, resulted in the designation of eight lectotypes in Eriocaulon in Asia (Souladeth et al. 2017). Field surveys in the region, also directed towards a taxonomic revision, have been undertaken since 2011. Among several new collections from Laos, we discovered two new Eriocaulon taxa. One is a specimen with a cormous stem from the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos. After critical examination, the specimen is found to be distinct from E. xenopodium T.Koyama (Prajaksood et al. 2017), a cormous taxon which belongs to Eriocaulon section Simplices Fyson (Zhang 1999) and endemic to Thailand at 1200 – 1350 m altitude. It is also distinct from other
tuberous species, including E. tuberiferum A.R.Kulk. & Desai (Kulkarni & Desai 1974; Ansari & Balakrishnan 2009) and E. idukkianum Manudev, Robi & Nampy (Manudev et al. 2017). The second is a specimen with white anthers and hairy scapes from Vientiane Capital in central Laos. Because of its white anthers and seeds without appendages, it was compared to the species of Eriocaulon section Leucantherae Fyson (Zhang 1999; Ansari & Balakrishnan 2009), and to other species with a hairy scape (Ma et al. 2000; Prajaksood et al. 2017). We found that it was most similar to E. nautiliformoides Praj. & J.Parn. but, after careful examination, we concluded that it is distinct from any other known species. Therefore, w
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