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Issue: Vol. 391 No. 3: 4 February 2019
Type: Correspondence
Published: 2019-02-04
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.391.3.8
Page range: 240–242
Abstract views: 25
PDF downloaded: 1

Rediscovery and supplemental description of Paris birmanica (Melanthiaceae), a species endemic to Myanmar

Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resource, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw 05282, Myanmar
Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resource, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw 05282, Myanmar
Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw 05282, Myanmar Forest Research Institute, Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw 05282, Myanmar
Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resource, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw 05282, Myanmar
Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, and Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resource, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China
Paris birmanica Melanthiaceae Monocots Myanmar

Abstract

Paris Linnaeus (1753: 367) comprises 30 species of perennial herbs, distributed in Eurasia, and the center of distribution is the Himalayan-Hengduan Mountion area (Li et al. 1998, Osaloo & Kawano 1999, Liang & Soukup 2000, Li et al. 2017, Ji et al. 2017, Wang et al. 2017, Yang et al. 2018, Liu et al. 2018). Many are medicinal plants. Paris birmanica, described in Daiswa by Takhtajan (1983), was transferred to Paris by Li & Noltie (1997). It was also noted (Li et al. 1997, Li et al. 1998) that P. birmanica is endemic to Myanmar. However, since the type specimens were collected in the 1920s, P. birmanica had not been sighted by botanists, which left the morphological characteristics of this species without detailed description of its rhizome, ovary and ovules.