Aristolochia compressicaulis Z.L.Yang, 2015

Do, Truong Van, Neinhuis, Christoph & Wanke, Stefan, 2015, Validation of the name Aristolochia compressicaulis and lectotypification of A. championii and A. punjabensis (Aristolochiaceae), Phytotaxa 221 (2), pp. 198-200 : 198

Aristolochia compressicaulis Z.L.Yang , sp. nov.

Based on:— Aristolochia compressicaulis Z.L.Yang, J. Wuhan Bot. Res. 6: 32 (1988), nom. inval.

Type:— CHINA. Sichuan: Jiangjin Xian, elevation 1300 m, 24 August 1983, Z. L. Yang 484311 (holotype, EMA!).

Latin diagnosis:—“ Aristolochia compressicaulis Z.L.Yang ” (1988: 32).

Note:—When Yang described Aristolochia compressicaulis (1988) the name was not validly published because two gatherings from Sichuan ( China), Jiangjin Exped. 0433 (fruiting specimen) and Z. L. Yang 484311 (flowering specimen), were indicated as types (Art. 40.2 of the ICN, McNeill et al. 2012). Since the reproductive organs, especially the flower, are generally considered having superior diagnostic characters in Aristolochia , we here designate the flowering specimen “ Z. L. Yang 484311 ” as the holotype of A. compressicaulis . According to Art. 46.3 Ex. 21 of ICN ( McNeill et al. 2012), the authorship of the name A. compressicaulis has to be attributed to “Yang” that provided the validating description.

The morphological similarity of this species with A. championii has been controversially discussed. While Ma (1989) accepted A. compressicaulis as sufficiently different from A. championii, Hwang (2003) regarded this species as synonym of A. championii . Here, we follow Ma (1989) because A. compressicaulis can be distinguished from A. championii by the leaf blade (lanceolate to oblanceolate vs. linear-lanceolate), the inflorescence (solitary cyme on young branches vs. clusters of several cymes on old woody stems), the bracteole (subulate, 3 × 2 mm vs. lanceolateovate, 10 × 5 mm), the perianth length (3 cm vs. 10–12 cm), limb width (2.5–3 cm vs. 4–6 cm), and the fruit (ellipsoid, 6–8 × 3 cm vs. subglobose, 5 × 4.5 cm).