Name:

Aspidistra neglecta Aver., Tillich & K.S.Nguyen – Nordic J. Bot. 35(4): 484. (2017).

Holotype:

 

 

Vietnam: Ha Giang province, Quan Ba district, Can Ty commune, Dau Cau 1 village, around point 23°05′45.1″N, 105°01′02.7″E, 1050 m a.s.l., primary evergreen forest 17 Dec 2016, Nguyen Sinh Khang, Nguyen Phuong Hanh, Ly Ngoc Sam, T. Haevermans, VP 26 (holotype: HN!, isotypes: HN!, LE!, VNM!).

Specimens:

 

 

 

Vietnam: Ha Giang province, Quan Ba district, Can Ty communne, Bat Dai Son nature reserve, 23°05’34″N, 105°01′13″E, 16 Apr 2013, Nguyen Quang Hieu et al., CPC 5580 (Herbarium of the Center for Plant Conservation, Hanoi); Thanh Van commune, Ma Hong village, around point 23°06′10.5″N, 104°58′36.2″E, 1000 m a.s.l., 18 Dec 2016, Nguyen Sinh Khang et al., VP 40 (HN!, LE!, VNM!); Can Ty commune, Dau Cau 1 village, around point 23°06′20.5″N, 105°01′04.5″E, 1100 m a.s.l., 19 Dec 2016, Nguyen Sinh Khang et al., VP 53 (HN!, LE!, VNM!).

Distribution:

Vietnam: Ha Giang province.

Phenology:

Flowers in nature in December

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terrestrial perennial herb with long semi-epigeous creeping plagiotropic rhizome bearing ventrally sparse, distant, thick, straight, whitish to whitish-gray roots. Rhizome dark gray or dark gray-brownish, simple or few-branching, thick, to 20–25 cm long, (6)8–12(14) mm in diameter, consisting ofnumerous many-nodal sympodial portions, each (1.0)1.5–2.0(2.2) cm long, densely covered by many dull brownish papyraceous or fibrous remains of cataphylls; (2)3–4(6) apical sympodial rhizome portions bears ascending leafy stems (2)3–5(7) mm tall, each with (1)2(3) leaves. Young cataphylls pink to purple, erect, ensiform, during anthesis dry, dull pale brownish, narrowly lanceolate, acute to acuminate, straight, upright, (2)5–14(16) cm long, (3)4–10(14) mm wide (when flattened), somewhat broadening at the base, early disintegrated into irregular fibres. Leaves on individual shoot (1)2(3), petiolate to indistinctly petiolate; petiole grass green, stiff, rigid, erect, straight, (6)8–12(14) cm long, (1.6)2.0–2.5(3.0) mm in diameter, adaxially grooved; leaf blade arching, leathery, more or less flat, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, tapering to base and an acuminate apex, (24)28–50(55) cm long, (2.0)2.5–3.5(4.0) cm wide, irregularly wavy along margin, uniformly grass-green or with many fuzzy dull yellowish spots, with prominent median vein and rather insignificant secondary veins. Flowers 1–2(3), solitary, arising laterally from apical sympodial portion of rhizome, shortly pedunculate, not widely opening, dark dirty purple-violet to almost black with greenish free lobes. Peduncle spreading, sub-horizontal, (4)6–8(10) mm long, dull purple to pale dirty purple-violet, with (3)4–5(6) distant, broadly ovate, sterile bracts; sterile bracts speckled with dirty purple, ovate to broadly ovate, obtuse or roundish at apex, with broad base, concave, herbaceous, (3)4–6(7) mm long, (2.5)3.0–4.5(5.5) mm wide (when flattened), often irregularly splitting at apex. Perigone (8.0)8.5–9.0(9.5) mm long, with 6 free lobes, syntepalous part urceolate to almost globular, (6.0)6.5–7.0(7.5) mm long, (8)9–10(11) mm in diameter in broadest part, when opening reduced to ca 7 mm; lobes subequal, fleshy, slightly longitudinally concave, straight, smooth and glossy, broadly triangular, (1.8)1.9–2.1(2.3) mm long, (2.6)2.8–3.0(3.2) mm wide, obtuse at apex. Stamens 6, filamentous, inserted at base of perianth tube, distant from each other; filaments fleshy, thick, erect, straight, 0.9–1.1 mm tall and wide; anthers dorsifixed, semi-extrorse, broadly ovoid, (1.0)1.2–1.4(1.6) mm long and wide; pollen yellow. Pistil dull pale olive greenish, tinged with dirty purple to the base, obscurely mushroom-shaped; style fleshy, conoid, broadening to the base, (2.5)2.8–3.0(3.2) mm tall, (1.0)1.2–1.4(1.5) mm in diameter; stigma uniformly dark purple-violet to almost black, peltate to slightly convex, (2.6)2.8–3.0(3.2) mm in diameter, circular in outline, distinctly 3-lobed, each lobe entire, subquadrate, truncate to slightly emarginate at apex. Ovary inconspicuous, very indistinct, dull dirty purple.

Sourses:

Nguyen, K.S. et al. (2017). – Nordic J. Bot. 35: 482–487.

Gallery: