Magnolia septipetala (Z.L. Nong) C.B. Callaghan & S.K. Png comb. nov.

Basionym.

Michelia septipetala Z.L. Nong. In: Guihaia 13(3): 220-221, fig. 1 (1993).

Chinese name.

七瓣含笑 meaning "seven-petals (tepals) michelia" (the tepals in fact are recorded as 7-9)

Type.

CHINA. Jiangxi Province: Xinfeng County, Jinpen Shan, in woods, 21 May 1986, Nong Zhi-lin 086067 (holotype: IBK, fl. white n.v.). Other specimens recorded: Same locality? Nong Z.L. 086167. Jiangxi Province: Shangyou County, Wuzhifeng, Guangu Shan, 670 m, 23 November 1976, Nong Z.L. 760347 (JXAU online images!). Digital images of specimen 760347 with collector noted as Shi Xinghua, accessed 19 March 2019:

[JXAU: 0001182]: http://www.cvh.ac.cn/spm/JXAU/JXAU0001182

[JXAU: 0001183]: http://www.cvh.ac.cn/spm/JXAU/JXAU0001183

[JXAU: 0001184]: http://www.cvh.ac.cn/spm/JXAU/JXAU0001184

Michelia fujianensis Q.F. Zheng. In: Xia and Deng (2002: 130) and Xia et al. (2008: 83), both p.p. quoad syn. Michelia septipetala Z.L. Nong.

Michelia caloptila Y.W. Law & Y.F. Wu. In: Sima (2011: 234), p.p. quoad syn. Michelia septipetala Z.L. Nong.

Note.

The holotype specimen of Michelia septipetala cannot be found at IBK (Xu Wei-bin, pers. comm., July 2019). However, M. septipetala can be easily differentiated from both M. fujianensis and M. caloptila, the 2 species under which it is noted in synonymy above, by the comparison of their morphological and phenological characteristics summarised in Table 8 below.

The differentiating features of Michelia septipetala are cited from Nong (1993) and Liao and Guo (2010) †; those of Michelia fujianensis from Zheng (1981) ‡, supplemented by Liu et al. (2004: 260)§, with those of Michelia caloptila from Law and Wu (1984) and Liu et al. (2004: 228)¶, who each note the flowers as then unknown, plus Yang et al. (2016: 237)#.