Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 710 No. 3: 17 Jul. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-07-17
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.710.3.5
Page range: 283-289
Abstract views: 282
PDF downloaded: 30

Gastrodia motuoensis (Orchidaceae, Epidendroideae), a new species of mycoheterotrophic plant from Xizang, China, based on morphological and molecular evidence

State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing, 100093, China
State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China; China National Botanical Garden, Beijing, 100093, China
Gastrodieae Motuo Himalayas fungal symbiont mycoheterotrophic plants Monocots

Abstract

Gastrodia motuoensis, a new species of mycoheterotrophic orchid from Southeast Xizang, China, is described and illustrated. Morphologically the new species allies with G. theana, G. sikkimensis, G. albida, and G. nipponica in their dwarf stature, not widely opening flowers, and lateral wings of the column, but it is distinct in its larger petals, lip with shortly caudate apex, a pair of lamellae on disc, and the stigma positioned at the middle of the column. Results of molecular phylogenetics based on plastid protein-coding sequences reveal that the new species is sister to G. crispa + G. flexistyla with high support, all of which belong to a recently diverged clade inside the genus Gastrodia. The discovery of G. motuoensis, together with several other Gastrodia species described in recent years, highlights potentially underrecognized diversity of these cryptic mycoheterotrophs.

References

  1. Averyanov, L.V. (2005) New orchids from Vietnam. Rheedea 15 (2): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.22244/rheedea.2005.15.02.01
  2. Bolger, A.M., Lohse, M. & Usadel, B. (2014) Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data. Bioinformatics 30 (15): 2114–2120. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btu170
  3. Brown, R. (1810) Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae, et Insulae van Diemen. Johnson, London, 446 pp.
  4. Chen, S.C., Gale, S.W. & Cribb, P.J. (2009) Gastrodia. In: Wu, Z.Y., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D.Y. (Eds.) Flora of China. Volume 25: Orchidaceae. Missouri Botanical Gardens, Missouri; Science Press, Beijing.
  5. Chen, Z., Zhang, Z., Song, X. & Zhang, Z. (2023) Gastrodia bawanglingensis (Orchidaceae, Epidendroideae), a new species from Hainan Island, China. PhytoKeys 220: 39–50. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.220.95137
  6. Doyle, J. & Doyle, J. (1987) A rapid DNA isolation procedure for small quantities of fresh leaf tissue. Phytochemical Bulletin 19: 11–15.
  7. Griffith, W. (1844) Calcutta Journal of Natural History, and Miscellany of the Arts and Sciences in India. Bishop’s College Press, Calcutta, 574 pp.
  8. Griffith, W. (1845) Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 1 (23): 221–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.1845.tb01000-23.x
  9. Hsu, T. & Kuo, C. (2010) Supplements to the orchid flora of Taiwan (IV): four additions to the genus Gastrodia. Taiwania 55 (3): 243–248. https://doi.org/10.6165/tai.2010.55(3).243
  10. Hsu, T. & Kuo, C. (2011) Gastrodia albida (Orchidaceae), a new species from Taiwan. Annales Botanici Fennici 48: 272–275. https://doi.org/10.5735/085.048.0308
  11. IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee. (2024) Guidelines for using the IUCN Red List categories and criteria, version 16. [https://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/RedListGuidelines.pdf]
  12. Katoh, K. & Standley, D.M. (2013) MAFFT multiple sequence alignment software version 7: improvements in performance and usability. Molecular Biology and Evolution 30 (4): 772–780. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst010
  13. Khanal, M., Sarkar, S., Rai, S.K., Kumar, D., Rawat, S., Rai, P. & Agrawala, D.K. (2024) Gastrodia sikkimensis (Orchidaceae: Gastrodieae), a new holomycotrophic species from Sikkim, India. Phytotaxa 635 (2): 157–164. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.635.2.5
  14. Merckx, V. & Freudenstein, J.V. (2010) Evolution of mycoheterotrophy in plants: a phylogenetic perspective. New Phytologist 185 (3): 605–609. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03155.x
  15. Merckx, V.S.F.T. (2013) Mycoheterotrophy: the biology of plants living on fungi (1st Ed.). Springer, New York, 356 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5209-6
  16. Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.W. & Rasmussen, F.N. (2006) Tribe Gastrodieae. In: Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.W. & Rasmussen, F.N. (Eds.) Genera Orchidacearum. Volume 4: Epidendroideae (part one). Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 435–452. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198507123.003.0005
  17. Qin, Y., Huang, S.-Q., Wang, B.-M. & Liu, Y. (2024) Gastrodia daweishanensis (Orchidaceae), a new species from Yunnan, China. Taiwania 69 (3): 317–320. https://doi.org/10.6165/tai.2024.69.317
  18. Ronquist, F., Teslenko, M., van der Mark, P., Ayres, D.L., Darling, A., Höhna, S., Larget, B., Liu, L., Suchard, M.A. & Huelsenbeck, J.P. (2012) MrBayes 3.2: efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model choice across a large model space. Systematic Biology 61 (3): 539–542. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys029
  19. Schlechter, F.R.R. (1911) Die Polychondreae (Neottiinae Pfitz.) und ihre systematische einteilung. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 45 (3): 375–410.
  20. Smith, J.J. (1921) Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg. Volume 3 Series 3. Archipel Drukkerij Buitenzorg, Bogor, 330 pp.
  21. Stamatakis, A. (2014) RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies. Bioinformatics 30 (9): 1312–1313. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btu033
  22. Talavera, G. & Castresana, J. (2007) Improvement of phylogenies after removing divergent and ambiguously aligned blocks from protein sequence alignments. Systematic Biology 56 (4): 564–577. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150701472164
  23. Tuyama, T. (1939) Plantae boninenses novae vel criticae. XII. Shokubutsugaku Zasshi 53 (625): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.15281/jplantres1887.53.1
  24. Wang, Y., Wang, H., Ye, C., Wang, Z., Ma, C., Lin, D. & Jin, X. (2024) Progress in systematics and biogeography of Orchidaceae. Plant Diversity 46 (4): 425–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2024.05.002
  25. Wen, Y.Y., Qin, Y., Shao, B.Y., Li, J.W., Ma, C.B., Liu, Y. & Jin, X.H. (2022) The extremely reduced, diverged and reconfigured plastomes of the largest mycoheterotrophic orchid lineage. BMC Plant Biology 22 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-022-03836-x
  26. Xu, J., Ran, Y. & Guo, S. (1989) Studies on the life cycle of Gastrodia elata. Acta Academiae Medicinae Sinicae 11 (4): 237–241.
  27. Zhou, X. (1981) The life circle of Gastrodia elata Blume. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 3 (2): 197–202.
  28. Zhou, Z., Shi, R., Zhang, Y., Xing, X. & Jin, X. (2021) Orchid conservation in China from 2000 to 2020: achievements and perspectives. Plant Diversity 43 (5): 343–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2021.06.003

How to Cite

Wang, H. & Jin, X. (2025) Gastrodia motuoensis (Orchidaceae, Epidendroideae), a new species of mycoheterotrophic plant from Xizang, China, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Phytotaxa 710 (3): 283–289. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.710.3.5