Polypleurum chinense (Podostemaceae), a new species from Fujian, China, based on morphological and genomic evidence

Abstract

We describe Polypleurum chinense, a new species of Podostemaceae from Yunxiao County, Fujian Province, China, based on morphological and molecular data and the genus Polypleurum is recorded here for the first time from China. Polypleurum chinense has a gross morphology similar to P. longistylosum, but it can be distinguished from the latter by its narrower roots, more numerous and longer leaves, shorter stigmas and more numerous ovules per locule. To distinguish the new Polypleurum species and study its phylogenetic position, its complete plastome was sequenced and characterised. The plastome is 132,110 bp in length, including a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 20,389 bp divided by the large single-copy (LSC) and small single-copy (SSC) regions of 79,022 bp and 12,310 bp, respectively. The plastome size of P. chinense is relatively smaller compared to most angiosperms due to the absence of the ycf1 and ycf2 genes in the IR regions. The phylogenetic analyses also strongly support the separation of the new species from other taxa.