Ceropegia sunhangiana, a new species of Apocynaceae from Southwest China

Abstract

Ceropegia sunhangiana P.R.Luo and T.Deng, a new species from Qiaojia, northeast Yunnan, southwest China, is described and illustrated herein based on its morphological characteristics and molecular evidence. This species is similar to C. christenseniana, and C. sinoerecta but can be distinguished easily by its stem, indumentum, leaf, and floral features, especially the corolla shape and size, the corolla tube and lobe characters. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS, trnL‐trnF, trnS‐trnG, psbA‐trnH and rps16 sequences shows that this new species belongs to C. sect. Chionopegia H.Huber with strong support, which was mutually verified by morphology analyses. A table including the morphological characters of related species and a dichotomous key to all 25 species of Ceropegia in China are provided.