Friday, September 15, 2017

[Botany • 2017] Emended Description and Resurrection of Kadsura matsudae (Schisandraceae)


Kadsura matsudae Hayata   
emend. Suetsugu & T.C.Hsu
(Suetsugu, Hsu, Toma, Miyake & Saunders, 2017) DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.311.3.5 

Abstract

The taxonomic identity of Kadsura matsudae is reevaluated. This taxon is often treated as a synonym of K. japonica, a species known from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. When studying the type materials of K. matsudae, however, we noted that some of its morphological characters, such as the non-contiguous thecae in adjacent stamens, do not fall within the typical variation range of K. japonica. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that although K. matsudae is retrieved within the sect. Kadsura clade, it is not closely related to K. japonica. We therefore propose that K. matsudae should be recognized as a distinct species. Because the protologue of K. matsudae lacks sufficient detail with regards to stamen morphology, which is one of the most important characteristics for identifying the species, we provide an emended description of K. matsudae based on the holotype specimen and newly collected specimens.

Keywords: Kadsura, Schisandraceae, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, taxonomy, Eudicots


Left - the male flowers of the Kadsura japonica (Photo by MORI Sayoko)
Right - the male flowers of the Kadsura matsudae (Photo by TOMA Tsugutaka).
The stamen cluster in Kadsura japonica is always red, while the Kadsura matsudae is usually yellow (in rare cases it is red).

Kadsura matsudae Hayata (1920: 4, as “K. matsudai) emend. Suetsugu & T.C.Hsu 

 Male flower of Kadsura matsudae newly discovered in Okinawa Island 


 Kenji Suetsugu, Tian-Chuan Hsu, Tsugutaka Toma, Takashi Miyake and Richard M. K. Saunders. 2017. Emended Description and Resurrection of Kadsura matsudae (Schisandraceae). Phytotaxa. 311(3);  255–262.  DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.311.3.5

Mistaken identity of East Asian vine species resolved after 100 years 

phy.so/418036946 via @physorg_com