Cornus sunhangii (Cornaceae), a new species from Tibet (China) Author Lv, Zhen-Yu School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, Yunnan, China Author Huang, Xian-Han CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China & University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Author Zhang, Xu CAS Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China & University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Author Yusupov, Ziyoviddin CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China & Central Herbarium of Uzbekistan, Institute of Botany, Academy Sciences of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100025, Uzbekistan Author Wang, Heng-Chang CAS Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China Author Tojibaev, Komiljon Central Herbarium of Uzbekistan, Institute of Botany, Academy Sciences of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100025, Uzbekistan Author Deng, Tao CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China dengtao@mail.kib.ac.cn Author Li, Zhi-Min School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, Yunnan, China dengtao@mail.kib.ac.cn text Phytotaxa 2019 2019-07-15 409 5 273 282 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.409.5.3 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.409.5.3 1179-3163 13713619 Cornus sunhangii T.Deng, Z.Y.Lv & Zhi M.Li , sp. nov. Diagnosis: — Cornus sunhangii is similar to C. capitata , from which it is distinguished by larger fruit size (ca. 7 cm in diameter), longer peduncle of 5.5–6.5 cm and sparser trichomes that are white and brown in the epidermis of leaves ( Table 1 ). Type: — CHINA . Tibet : Mêdog County , Bari , elev. ca. 1988 m , 95.38000E , 29.31806N , 6 October 2018 , H . Sun et al. 19991 ( holotype KUN1347138 !; isotypes KUN1347139 !, KUN1347140 !) . Description: —Trees, 4–8 m tall, bark grayish brown. Leaves opposite, leathery; petiole cylindrical, 0.6–2 cm long, bending inward; blade narrowly elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 9–13 × 2.5–6 cm , base shortly caudate, margin entire or slightly undulate, apex acuminate or short caudate, adaxial green or grayish green, abaxial light green, surface sparsely pubescent with white appressed trichomes, axils of veins with white and brown trichomes; veins 3 or 4, obvious, bulge in abaxial, with sparse brown trichomes. Inflorescences pedunculate; peduncle (3–) 5–6.5 cm , succulent; cymes globose, ca. 1.1 cm in diameter, ca. 80 flowered; bracts 4, white, 4.5–5.6 × 2–3 cm , base cuneate or broadly cuneate, apex mucronate, sparsely pubescent with brownish appressed fine trichomes. Infructescences compressed or subglobose, 6–8 cm in diameter, light green before maturity. Seeds 1 per carpet, ellipsoid, obovoid or comma-shaped, ca. 0.8 × 0.5 cm ( Figs. 1 & 2 ). FIGURE 4. SEM images comparison of leaf surface morphology of Cornus sunhangii (a) and C. capitata (b). A–D. Abaxial epidermis; E–F. Adaxial epidermis. A. Morphology of the abaxial epidermis; B. Trichome; C. Protrusion; D. Stomata; E. Morphology of the adaxial epidermis; F. Waxy layer. Photos by Zhijia Gu. Distribution and habitat: — Cornus sunhangii is known only from near Bari Village, Mêdog County, southeastern Tibet , China ( Fig. 6 ). The terrain is mountainous with deep ravines and the climate is subtropical. According to data from the Mêdog meteorological observatory, the annual average temperature was 16 ℃ and the annual precipitation was 2358 mm during the period from 2007 to 2017 ( Li et al . 2018 ). Etymology: — Cornus sunhangii is named in honor of Prof. Hang Sun, a Chinese botanist who has conducted research on plant taxonomy, floristics, biogeography and evolutionary biology and he has made outstanding contributions to our knowledge of the flora of Mêdog and of China . The Chinese name is “ ffiüfflaeẅ ” (mò tuō sì zhào huā).