A new species of Sedum (Crassulaceae) from Mount Danxia in Guangdong, China Author Huang, Yan-Shuang State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China Author Meng, Kai-Kai State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China Author Sun, Yuan-Yuan State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China Author Chen, Zai-Xiong School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China Author Fan, Qiang https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-6936 State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China fanqiang@mail.sysu.edu.cn text PhytoKeys 2023 2023-03-10 221 117 129 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.221.97495 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.221.97495 1314-2003-221-117 D8E72A6A60E1514EBF2F3D7834E33FB2 Sedum jinglanii Yan S.Huang & Q.Fan sp. nov. Type . China . Guangdong Province , Renhua County , Mount Danxia , Bazhai , in the cliff of steep slopes, 25°00'N , 113°39'E , 520 m a.s.l. , 3 April 2021 , Y. S. Huang 21040301 ( holotype : SYS; isotype: SYS) (Figs 2 , 3 ) . Figure 2. Sedum jinglanii sp. nov. A habit B flower with sepals, petals, stamens and carpels C petals and stamens D sepal E leaves. Illustration by Yuan-Yuan Sun based on living field-collected material ( Y. S. Huang 21040301 ). Figure 3. Sedum jinglanii sp. nov. A habit B flower, front view, showing brownish-red anthers C carpels and a nectar scale (red arrow) D abaxial leaf surface E young unripe fruits F young sterile individuals A, B, D photographed by Qiang Fan in the field (Pingtouzhai, 6 April 2022 , Q. Fan et al. , DNPC 1953 ) C photographed by Min Lin in the lab ( 7 April 2022 , Q. Fan et al. , DNPC 1953 ) E, F photographed by Yan-Shuang Huang (Bazhai, 3 April 2021 , Y. S. Huang 21040301 ). Diagnosis. This new species is similar to S. alfredi , but differs from the latter in its opposite leaves (vs. alternate leaves), its usually wider leaves (0.8-2.9 x 0.4-1.2 cm vs. 1.2-3.0 x 0.2-0.6 cm), usually shorter petals (3.4-4.5 mm vs. 4-6 mm), shorter nectar scales (0.4-0.5 mm vs. ca. 0.5-1 mm), and shorter carpels (1.5-2.6 mm vs. 4-5 mm). Although the leaves of this new species and of S. emarginatum are opposite, it can be easily distinguished from the latter by its short, erect or ascending rhizomes (vs. long and prostrate rhizomes), shorter petals (3.4-4.5 mm vs. 6-8 mm) and shorter carpels (1.5-2.6 mm vs. 4-5 mm). Description. Fleshy herbs, perennial; stems glabrous, greenish, often with small reddish dots thus appearing more or less reddish, ascending; leaves opposite, usually deciduous, crowded distally on the stem, succulent; leaf blade spatulate or obovate, 8-29 mm long, 4-12 mm wide, base narrowly cuneate and spurred, apex obtuse and sometimes emarginate; inflorescence in dense terminal cymes, usually two to four branched; bracts leaflike, 1.7-2.4 mm long, 0.7-1.1 mm wide; flowers usually sessile, rarely with short pedicels to 0.8 mm long, unequally 5-merous; sepals green, linear-spatulate, 2-3.1 mm x 0.7-1.4 mm, base shortly spurred; petals yellow, lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, 3.4-4.5 mm x 0.8-1.1 mm, base connate for 0.1-0.2 mm, apex mucronate; stamens 10, yellow, filiform, arranged in 2 whorls; antesepalous ones 3.2-3.3 mm, antepetalous ones 2.2-2.6 mm; anthers brownish red, long ellipsoid. Nectar scales yellow green, spatulate-quadrangular, 0.4-0.5 x 0.2-0.3 mm, apex obtusely truncate. Carpels yellow green, erect, ovoid-lanceolate, 1.5-2.6 mm long, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, adaxially gibbous, base shortly connate; styles 0.6-0.9 mm long. Follicles yellowish, obliquely divergent. Seeds numerous, brown, oblong, 0.5-0.6 mm, papillate. Phenology. Flowering from April to May. Fruiting from June to August. Etymology. Sedum jinglanii is named after Prof. Jing-Lan Feng (1898-1976), an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the founders of mineralogy in China. In 1928, he discovered and named the red beds and related strata in North Guangdong as "Danxia Formation" for the first time ( Peng 2020 ). Distribution and habitat. Presently, this new species is only known from the type locality, Mount Danxia, Renhua County, Guangdong Province, China. It grows on the cliff of steep slopes at altitudes of 200-550 m a.s.l. Conservation status. Only five populations were found with no more than 1,000 mature individuals. Thus, the conservation status could be considered as Vulnerable (VU; D1), according to the IUCN Red List Criteria ( IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee 2022 ). Additional specimens examined ( paratypes ). China . Guangdong : Renhua County , Mount Danxia , Pingtouzhai , 25°00'N , 113°37'E , 536 m a.s.l. , 6 April 2022 , Q. Fan et al. , DNPC 1953 (SYS); Renhua County , Mount Danxia , Yanyan , 25°02'N , 113°61'E, 263 m a.s.l. , 27 December 2022 , Q. Fan et al. DNPC 2873 (SYS) .