A new member was found in Orchidantha (Lowiaceae)

Orchidantha N. E. Brown is the only genus in the monogeneric family Lowiaceae in order Zingiberales (Larsen 1998). This family is mainly distributed in tropical Asia (Borneo, Peninsular Malay and Indo-China Peninsula) and the center is Borneo. Lowiaceae was first reported from China by WU (1964) who described two species, Orchidantha chinensis T.L.Wu from Guangdong province and Orchidantha insularis T.L.Wu from Hainan province, based on herbarium materials. He also sorted out all the plants of this family and described all of them. The discovery of Lowiaceae in China was believed to expand the world distribution record of this family in that time.

Figure 1: Orchidantha yunnanensis P. Zou, C. F. Xiao & Skornick

In 2017, Dr. ZOU Pu from South China Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences and her cooperators was published a new species from this family – Orchidantha yunnanensis P. Zou, C. F. Xiao & Skornick (Zou et al, 2017: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.302.2.8).

So far, the distribution area of Lowiaceae in China has expanded from the known South China region to the southwest region, and the latitude has further moved to the north. Recently, Dr. ZOU Pu and her cooperators found another new species of this family in Guangxi, which was named Orchidantha crassinervia P. Zou & X. A. Cai for the lip of the midrib specially developed (ZOU et al, 2019: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/njb.02493).

The discovery of these two species has enriched the resources of Lowiaceae in China. At present, there are 4 species and one variety of this family in China.

Figure 2: Orchidantha crassinervia P. Zou & X. A. Cai. (a) habitat, (b) habit, showing the details of inflorescences (scale bar = 15 cm), (c) flower, (d) dissected flowers. From left to right: floral bract, lateral sepal, dorsal sepal, lateral sepal, labellum, petal, anthers and stigma attached, petal, and stem with pedicel and ovary extension (scale bar = 1 cm), (e) Details of anthers and stigma (front and back view), two petals (front and back view), cross-section of the ovary (scale bar = 1 cm).