Aristolochia compressicaulis

Liao, Shuai, Zhu, Xin-Xin, Yan, Jing, Du, Cheng & Li, Hong-Qing, 2021, The valid publication and identity of Aristolochia compressicaulis (Aristolochiaceae), Phytotaxa 513 (1), pp. 75-79 : 76

Identity of Aristolochia compressicaulis

Yang (1986, 1988) considered A. compressicaulis to be similar to A. championii Merrill & Chun (1940: 47) and A. versicolor S.M. Hwang (1981: 224) . He stated that they can be distinguished from each other by the characters of the root, stem, peduncle, calyx limb, calyx throat and fruit. Ma (1987, 1989) accepted A. compressicaulis as its sufficient differences from A. championii and A. versicolor . Nevertheless, Hwang et al. (2003) treated it as a synonym of A. championii . Instead, Do et al. (2015) reinstated it as they stuck to the opinion of Ma (1989), and listed several distinctive morphological features. Based on limited material, Zhu et al. (2019a, 2019b) treated A. compressicaulis as a synonym of A. liangshanensis Z.L. Yang (1988: 31) . After checking more specimens and photos of living plants, we confirm that A. compressicaulis is a separate species, which is different from all the species mentioned above. Their differences are summarized in Table 1 and illustrated in Fig. 1 . To follow the generic delimitation of Zhu et al. (2019a), A. compressicaulis is transferred to Isotrema Rafinesque (1819: 195) below.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–C: Isotrema compressicaule. A. Flowering branch, B. Flower in frontal view, C. Longitudinal-section of flower. D–F: I. versicolor. D. Flowering branch, E. Flower in frontal view, F. Longitudinal-section of flower.G–I: I. liangshanense. G. Flowering branch, H. Flower in frontal view, I. Longitudinal-section of flower.—A–F: photographed by Xin-Xin Zhu; G–I: photographed by Hai-Ning Li.