Name:

Aspidistra sonlaensis T.N.Bon, V.T.Pham, Nuraliev & Vislobokov, Phytotaxa 528(1): 11 (2021).

Holotype:

 

 

Vietnam: Son La Province, Muong La District, Ngoc Chien Commune, along valley of secondary evergreen forest, around point 21°35’58.73”N 104°06’40.82”E, at elevation 1280 m a.s.l., 30 October 2020, Trinh Ngoc Bon, Nguyen Thanh Son, Do Thi Thanh Ha SCU 2020-01 (holotype VAFS!; isotype VNMN!).

Distribution:

Vietnam: Son La province.

Phenology:

Flowering in July–November, fruiting in October–November in nature.

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plant perennial, evergreen, herbaceous, rhizomatous, glabrous, 80–150 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, unbranched, dull yellow-green when young, dark brown when mature, with very short internodes, 1.5–2.2 cm in diam. Roots white to grey, 4–6 mm in diam. Rhizomes with regularly repeating units, each unit comprising several distichous cataphylls followed by a single foliage leaf. Cataphylls ovate-oblong, reddish to black-purple, up to 14.5 cm long. Leaves petiolate; petiole stout, erect, white or green at base, green towards apex, adaxially sulcate, 35–80 cm long, 3–8 mm in diam.; lamina green, narrowly elliptic, basally cuneate and attenuate, apically acuminate, 45–80 cm long, 8–15 cm wide, parallel-veined with median vein prominent on abaxial surface, margin entire. Inflorescences axillary, up to 2 per rhizome unit. Peduncle erect, white, green to reddish or black-purple, 6–15 cm long, 3–4 mm in diam., with about 5 distichously arranged bracts. Bracts white, green to reddish or black-purple, broadly deltoid, apex cuspidate, 1–1.5 cm long, 1.5–2.3 cm wide. Flower solitary at top of peduncle. Perigone urceolate, fleshy, shiny, 28–30 mm long; perigone tube shortly ellipsoid in side view to nearly globose, uniformly greenish white or white with reddish tint (especially towards apex) outside, uniformly white inside, 2.1–2.2 cm long, 2–2.1 cm in diam. at widest part; lobes 7–8, apparently in two whorls, erect to spreading, light green or yellowish green on both surfaces and sometimes reddish or purple outside, ovate, thick and fleshy, apex obtuse, 7–8 mm long, 5.5–6.1 mm wide. Stamens 7–8, inserted at base of perigone tube; anthers sessile, appressed to perigone tube, bright yellow, ellipsoid, 3.5–4.5 mm long, 2– 2.4 mm wide, introrse. Pistil uniformly white, widely obconic, ca. 11 mm tall; ovary superior, inconspicuous; style stout, widely obconic, roundish tetragonal in cross section, with numerous longitudinal ridges, ca. 4 mm tall, 3 mm proximally to 15 mm distally in diam.; stigma hemispherical, fleshy, ca. 7 mm tall, 13–15 mm in diam., upper surface smooth with 4 hardly visible irregular radial fissures, undulate at margin. Fruit dark green or sometimes dark purple, globose or obovoid, 2.2–2.5 cm long, 2.3–2.7 cm in diam., surface muricate; seeds 7–8, broadly ovoid to globular, 6.5–15 mm long, 4–7 mm in diam.

Sourses:

Trinh et al. (2021) – Phytotaxa 528 (1): 10–18.

Gallery: