A New Species of Paris (Melanthiaceae) from NortheasternYunnan, ChinaZhang Shu-dongKey Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650204, Yunnan, People’s Republic ofChina; and Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, People’sRepublic of China. [email protected] HongKey Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650204, Yunnan, People’s Republic ofChina; and School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, People’s Republic ofChina. [email protected] De-zhuKey Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650204, Yunnan, People’s Republic ofChina. [email protected] . Paris stigmatosa Shu-dong Zhang (Mel-anthiaceae) is described and illustrated from north-eastern Yunnan, China. The new species was foundgrowing in wet habitats under bamboo thickets onYaoshan Mountain of Qiaojia County. The newspecies is very similar to P. polyphylla Smith, fromwhich it differs by having fewer subsessile leaves (fourto six), 3-merous flowers, and stigmas 21–34 mm long.A key to the new species and sympatric species isgiven, and their similarities are discussed.Key words: China, IUCN Red List, Melanthia-ceae, Paris, Yunnan.The genus Paris L. (Melanthiaceae) (AngiospermPhylogeny Group II, 2003) comprises more than 20species of perennial herbs distributed in Eurasia (Li,1986; Kato et al., 1995; Liang & Victor, 2000). Allspecies except the European species P. quadrifolia L.and the Caucasian species P. incompleta M. Bieber-stein are endemic to eastern Asia (Osaloo & Kawano,1999). There are 22 species (12 endemic) in China(Liang & Victor, 2000), which is the center of speciesdiversity and endemism for the genus.The previous taxonomic circumscription of Parishas been problematic (e.g., Tatewaki & Sutoˆ, 1935;Hara, 1969; Takhtajan, 1983; Li, 1984, 1986, 1998;Mitchell, 1987, 1988; Li & Noltie, 1997). Hara (1969)divided the genus into three sections, i.e., sectionsParis, Kinugasa (Tatewaki & Sutoˆ) Hara, and Euthyra(Salisbury) Franchet. Takhtajan (1983) suggested thatParis comprised three distinct genera: Paris s. str.,Kinugasa Tatewaki & Sutoˆ, and Daiswa Rafinesque.Li (1998), following Hara’s (1969) treatment, main-tained Paris s.l., dividing into two subgenera,subgenus Daiswa (Rafinesque) H. Li and subgenusParis. In subgenus Daiswa, five sections wereincluded, section Dunniana H. Li, section Euthyra(Salisbury) Franchet, section Marmorata H. Li,section Fargesiana H. Li, and section Thibetica H.Li; in subgenus Paris, three sections were included,section Paris, section Kinugasa (Tatewaki & Sutoˆ)Hara, and section Axiparis H. Li. Previous moleculardata (Osaloo & Kawano, 1999; Farmer & Schilling,2002) supported Takhtajan’s treatment in part;however, Ji et al. (2006) recently used nuclear ITSand plastid psbA-trnH and trnL-trnF DNA sequencedata on a set of 21 species of Paris and confirmed thatParis s.l. is monophyletic. In this paper, we follow Li’s(1998) treatment because of her comprehensive studyfor global Paris species.Thirteen species were placed in Paris subg. Daiswa(Li, 1998) based on morphological characters such asthickened rhizomes, 1-loculed ovaries with parietalplacentation, berry-like, irregularly dehisced cap-sules, and seeds with a succulent aril. There are 12species of subgenus Daiswa in China, with 10 speciesoccurring in Yunnan Province. Southwestern China(including Yunnan) clearly represents the center ofdiversity for Paris subgen. Daiswa (Gu & Li, 1988).Rising from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River,NOVON 18: 550–554. PUBLISHED ON 16 DECEMBER 2008. doi: 10.3417/2007077Yaoshan Mountain lies along the border betweennortheastern Yunnan and southern Sichuan provinces.During recent fieldwork on Yaoshan Mountain by theauthors, five taxa of Paris subgen. Daiswa werecollected. Of these, P. stigmatosa is identified as anew species.Specimens were collected on Yaoshan Mountain ofnortheastern Yunnan Province, and voucher speci-mens were deposited at the herbaria of KunmingInstitute of Botany (KUN) and Yunnan University(YUKU). Flowers were observed directly in the fieldand rehydrated before most measurements andsketches were made. For the morphological descrip-tions, all materials were studied with the aid of a lightmicroscope (Olympus TGHM, Tokyo, Japan). Pollengrains of the new species were collected in the fieldand examined by LM and SEM by the authors,because pollen exine sculptures play a key role indetermining phylogenetic relationships among speciesof Paris (see Wei, 1988). Measurements were basedon 20 pollen grains, the values of P (polar axis length)and E (equatorial diameter) were measured, and theP:E ratio was calculated.Paris stigmatosa Shu-dong Zhang, sp. nov. TYPE:China. Yunnan: Qiaojia Co., Yaoshan Mtn.,2600–2900 m, 7 July 2004, Hong Wang, QinLin, Shu-dong Zhang & Na-na Lin 03-1372(holotype, KUN; isotypes, MO, PE, YUKU).Figure 1.A Paris polyphylla Smith foliis obovatis subsessilibus,sepalis externis plerumque 3 atque stigmatibus 21–34 mmlongis differt.Plants perennial, erect; rhizome thickened tocylindrical, simple to 4 cm; stem green or purple,glabrous, 12–33 cm. Leaves 4 to 6; petioles sub-sessile; leaf blades obovate, glabrous, 4–93 2–3.5 cm, acuminate, cuneate. Fertile peduncles 3.5–11.5 cm, glabrous. Outer tepals typically 3, some-times 4 or 2, green, ovate, 2–4.63 0.6–1 cm,glabrous, acuminate, cuneate, shortly ciliate atmargin; inner tepals usually absent or 3, yellow-green, filiform, erect, equal to outer ones; stamensusually 6 or 8; filaments purple, 2–3 mm; anthers 3–5 mm; free portion of connective purple, ca. 0.2 mm,acute; ovary green, subglobose, 3–5.43 3–4.1 mm;style ca. 1 mm; stigmatic lobes 2, 3, or 4, purple, 21–34 mm; pollen prolate, monocolpate, rugulate-reticu-late, 40.10 6 2.493 21.24 6 1.00 mm (Fig. 2).Capsule green at maturity, globose, 0.8–1 cm diam.;seeds enveloped by red, succulent aril, 4–53 ca.3 mm.Distribution and habitat. Paris stigmatosa is anendemic species and has only been collected at thetype locality on Yaoshan Mountain. Two populationswith approximately 50 mature individuals each werefound under moist bamboo thickets at altitude (2500–)2600–2900 m.IUCN Red List category. According to IUCN