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PhytoKeys 65: 125–131 (2016)
Popowia bachmaensis (Annonaceae), a new species from Bach Ma National Park...
doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.65.8792
RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Popowia bachmaensis (Annonaceae), a new species
from Bach Ma National Park, Central Vietnam
Nguyen Van Ngoc1,2, Shuichiro Tagane1, Hoang Thi Binh1,2, Hironori Toyama1,
Norikazu Okabe1, Chinh Nguyen Duy2, Tetsukazu Yahara1
1 Center for Asian Conservation Ecology, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan 2 Department of Biology, Dalat University, 01 – Phu Dong Thien Vuong, Dalat, Vietnam
Corresponding author: Nguyen Van Ngoc (ngocnv@dlu.edu.vn)
Academic editor: Pavel Stoev | Received 9 April 2016 | Accepted 16 June 2016 | Published 12 July 2016
Citation: Ngoc NV, Tagane S, Binh HT, Toyama H, Okabe N, Nguyen Duy C, Yahara T (2016) Popowia bachmaensis
(Annonaceae), a new species from Bach Ma National Park, Central Vietnam. PhytoKeys 65: 125–131. doi: 10.3897/
phytokeys.65.8792
Abstract
A new species, Popowia bachmaensis Ngoc, Tagane & Yahara, sp. nov. is described from Bach Ma National
Park in Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam. This species is morphologically similar to Popowia
pisocarpa (Blume) Endl. ex Walp., but can be readily distinguished from it by its lower stems, smaller leaves,
shorter flowering pedicels, shorter carpels, longer sepals and inner petals. A detailed description, comprising illustrations, and supplemented with DNA barcodes of the two regions of rbcL and matK, are provided.
Keywords
Annonaceae, Bach Ma National Park, new species, Popowia, Vietnam
Introduction
Popowia Endlicher is a small genus of the family Annonaceae. It was firstly described in the
Genera Plantarum secundum Ordines Naturales for the type species, Popowia pisocarpa
(Blume) Endl. ex Walp (Endlicher 1839). The species is a shrub or a small tree, characterized mainly by its (sub)granular leaves with asymmetric base, inner petals being larger
than outer ones, apically broadly flat-topped to slightly concave stamen connectives, 1 or
2(–4) ovule(s) per carpel (Moeljono 2009; Li and Gilbert 2011). The genus comprises approximately 50–90 species, but many of these could in fact belong to other genera (Sinclair
1955). The majority are distributed in tropical Africa, and also recorded from Madagascar,
Copyright Nguyen Van Ngoc et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC
BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Philippines, and Papua
New Guinea to Australia. (Sinclair 1955; Moeljono 2009; Li and Gilbert 2011).
The genus Popowia has been classified within tribe Mitrephoreae Hook. f. & Thomson with the genus Goniothalamus (Blume) Hook.f. & Thomson, Mitrephora Hook.f.
& Thomson, Neouvaria Airy Shaw, Oxymitra Hook. f. & Thomson and Pseuduvaria
Miq. (Sinclair 1955; Moeljono 2009). Recent molecular analyses suggested its placement under tribe Miliuseae including a total of 25 genera and ca. 510 species and also
strongly supports its monophyly with Polyalthia s. str. as a sister clade (Chatrou et al.
2012; Xue et al. 2012; Mols and Keβler 2013; Chaowasku et al. 2014). The species of
Popowia and Polyalthia s. str. are usually characterized by the asymmetrical leaf base,
but they are differentiated in the patterns of secondary leaf venation (eucamptodromous in Popowia vs. brochidodromous in Polyalthia s. str.), and the number of ovules
per carpel [1 or 2(–4) vs. 2–6] (Xue et al. 2012).
In a recent taxonomic revision of Annonaceae in Vietnam, Bân (2000) reported
three species with one variety of Popowia: P. cambodica Finet & Gagnep., P. cambodica
var. canaensis Bân, P. helferi Hook.f. & Thomson and P. pisocarpa. However, specimens of “P. cambodica and P. cambodica var. canaensis” identified by Bân (2000) are
identical with Polyalthia debilis (Pierre) Finet & Gagnep (digitalized specimen images
examined). As for “P. helferi”, the description by Bân (2000) does not match with the
original description by Hook and Thomson (1872). Therefore, only P. pisocarpa can
be considered as a reliable record in Vietnam.
Here, the second Vietnamese species of Popowia is reported, which was found in
Bach Ma National Park, Phu Loc District, Thua Thien Hue Province. This national
park was established in 1991 with a total area of 37,487 hectares and is recognized as a
biodiversity hotspot because of its unique topography, high species richness and highly
threatened biodiversity. The peak of Bach Ma Mt. is 1,450 m high and is covered by
clouds almost throughout the year. The park preserves virgin forests, which depending
on their altitudinal distribution can be classified as follows: seasonal evergreen forests, hill evergreen forests, and lower montane forests. So far 2,373 species of vascular
plants, accounting for approximately 17% species of the total flora of Vietnam, have
been recorded from the National Park (Bach Ma National Park 2016).
During our botanical inventory of Bach Ma National Park in 2015, a new species
of genus Popowia was discovered, P. bachmaensis Ngoc, Tagane & Yahara, sp. nov.
Here, it is described, illustrated and the DNA barcodes are provided of the two plastid
regions rbcL and matK (CBOL Plant Working Group 2009) of the new species.
Material and methods
Morphological analysis
The new species was recognized through literature review, examined specimens in the
herbaria ANDA, BKF, BM, BO, HN, K, L, P and online digitized plant specimens
Popowia bachmaensis (Annonaceae), a new species from Bach Ma National Park...
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(e.g. JSTOR Global Plants). The measurements of sepals, petals, carpels and stamens
was measured using a digital caliper (Absolute Digimatic 547-401, Mitutoyo, Japan,
resolution 0.001 mm).
DNA barcoding
Leaf pieces were dried using silica-gel in the field and DNA isolation was performed
by the CTAB method (Doyle and Doyle 1987) with minor modifications described
in Toyama et al. (2015). Two DNA barcode regions were amplified and sequenced
according to published protocols (Kress et al. 2009, Dunning and Savolainen 2010).
Taxonomy
Popowia bachmaensis Ngoc, Tagane & Yahara, sp. nov.
urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77155959-1
Figs 1, 2
Diagnosis. Similar to Popowia pisocarpa (Blume) Endl. ex Walp., but distinguished
from that species by having small habits (30–60 cm tall vs. 3–7 m tall in P. pisocarpa),
smaller leaves (4.6–10.8 cm × 2.0–5.6 cm vs. 5.5–14 cm × 2.5–7 cm in P. pisocarpa),
longer petioles (ca. 1.8–3 mm vs. 2–5 mm long) shorter flowering pedicels (2–3.5 vs.
4–7 mm long), longer sepals (ca. 3 mm vs. 2 mm long), longer inner petals (6 mm vs. 3
mm long), shorter carpels (2.1 mm vs. 10 mm long) (The measurements of P. pisocarpa
derive from Sinclair 1955).
Type. VIETNAM. Thua Thien Hue Province, Bach Ma National Park, in evergreen forest, 16°13'41.60"N, 107°51'09.35"E (DMS), alt. 485 m, 23 May 2015,
with flowers and young fruits, Yahara T, Tagane S., Toyama H., Nguyen Ngoc, Nguyen
Chinh, Okabe N. V2557 (holotype: KYO!; isotypes: BKF!, DLU!, FU!, the herbarium
of Bach Ma National Park!).
Description. Shrubs, 30–60 cm tall. Young twigs hirtellous with yellowish brown
hairs, glabrescent, blackish. Leaves alternate; petioles 1.8–3 mm long, hirtellous; blades
elliptic, elliptic-obovate, obovate, (3.7–)4.6–10.8(–15) × 2.0–5.6 cm, length/width
ratio 1.7–2.5(–3.2), base obtuse, usually asymmetric, apex acuminate, acumen up to
1.4 cm long, margin entire, ciliate, papery, dull greyish green to dull blackish brown
adaxially, pale green, dull greyish green, or greyish brown abaxially, minutely granular, pubescent on both surfaces when young, glabrescent adaxially when old; midribs
prominent abaxially, pubescent on both surfaces; secondary veins 7–11 pairs, arising
at angle of 45–55 degrees from a midrib, prominent abaxially when dry, pubescent on
both surfaces; tertiary veins faintly visible, scalariform-reticulate. Inflorescences extraaxillary or leave-opposed, fascicles of 1–3 flowers. Pedicels 2–3.5 mm long, hirtellous;
bracts triangular, ca. 1 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide, brownish pubescent outside and
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Figure 1. Popowia bachmaensis, sp. nov. a Holotype (KYO) b habit c flower d pedicel and sepals e sepals
f section of flower g inner petal h fruit on branch i dried fruit j seed k carpel l, m stamens. Materials from
Yahara et al. V2557 (KYO). Scale bars: d–g, i–m =1 mm.
margin, glabrous inside, bracteoles caducous. Sepals 3, broadly ovate, ca. 3 × 3 mm,
pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Petals 6, white; outer petals ovate-triangular, ca.
2.7 × 1.5 mm, pubescent outside, glabrous inside; inner petals narrowly ovate-triangular, ca. 6 × 3.2 mm, pubescent on both surfaces except lower part of inside. Stamens 22
per flower, reverse truncated pyramid, ca. 1.1 × 0.8 mm, glabrous, the connective truncate, flat-topped or slightly concave, ca. 0.1–0.2 mm long; anthers ca. 0.7 mm long.
Carpels 6 per flower, ca. 2.1 mm long; ovary ca. 1.1 mm long, glabrous; stigmas and
pseudostyles reverse conical, ca. 1 × 0.7 mm. Immature fruiting pedicels ca. 3.5–4.0
mm long, pubescent with reddish brown hairs; monocarp three, globose, ca. 2.2 mm
in diam., pubescent with short white hairs, hairs blackish brown when dried. Seeds
one per monocarp, ca. 1.5 mm long, reddish brown, glabrous, furrowed when dried.
Popowia bachmaensis (Annonaceae), a new species from Bach Ma National Park...
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Figure 2. Illustration of Popowia bachmaensis, sp. nov. a Leafy twig b Flower c Pedicel and sepals d Fruit
e Inner petal f Carpel and g Stamen. Materials all from Yahara et al. V2557 (FU). Drawn by Ngoc & Binh.
Distribution and habitat. Vietnam (so far known only from its type locality).
Phenology. Mature flowers and young fruits were collected in May.
Etymology. The specific epithet ‘bachmaensis’ is derived from the type locality,
Mt. Bach Ma, Vietnam.
GeneBank accession No. Yahara et al. V2557: LC090861 (rbcL), LC090860
(matK).
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Conservation status. Data Deficient (DD). During the botanical inventory carried out from 21 to 28 May 2015 from the foot to the top of Mt. Bach Ma, 15 individuals of Popowia bachmaensis were observed in all. They were found on the slopes
of secondary hilly evergreen forest, at ca. 500 m elevation. Among them, only two
individuals produced flowers, one produced fruits, and the others are just saplings. According to the population size observed, this species can be qualified as Critically Endangered (CR) (IUCN 2012). However, only a limited area of the forest in the vicinity
of the type locality was surveyed, and further field surveys are needed to determine the
actual population size within Bach Ma National Park. The forest of the type locality
was slightly disturbed in the past, but it is now well-protected from human activities.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the staff of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry, Dalat University, and the Bach Ma National Park for arranging the necessary collecting permits,
and for supporting our survey. We are grateful to the curators and staff of the herbaria
ANDA, BKF, BM, BO, HN, K, L and P for making their materials accessible. We also
thank Keiko Mase (Kyushu University) for her help with DNA experiments. The present study was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development
Fund (S9) of the Ministry ofs the Environment, Japan.
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