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A taxonomic revision of unifoliolate Chinese Epimedium L. (Berberidaceae)

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Summary

Five Chinese species of Epimedium (Berberidaceae), E. simplicifolium T. S. Ying, E. baojingensis Q. L. Chen & B. M. Yang, E. zhushanense K. F. Wu & S. X. Qian, E. glandulosopilosum H. R. Liang and E. elachyphyllum Stearn are the only species of the genus previously described with unifoliolate leaves. Here, the authors review these five species based on extensive examination of specimens in herbaria and careful observation in the field and garden. E. simplicifolium is treated as a synonym of E. acuminatum Franch., and with the exception of E. elachyphyllum, the taxa are found to have predominantly trifoliolate and only occasionally unifoliolate leaves. Neotypes for E. zhushanense and E. glandulosopilosum are designated. In addition, we describe some characters of E. baojingensis, E. zhushanense, E. glandulosopilosum and E. elachyphyllum.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30900076) and Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-Z-053). We would like to thank the curators of CDBI, GZTM, HGAS, HNNU, HSNU, IMD, KUN, PE and SZ for permission to access specimens for our study. Thanks also go to the Curators of E, K and P for providing us with photos of type specimens. We are grateful to L. Chen, D. G. Zheng, X. J. Su and B. H. Nie for their assistance in field work. Special thanks are due to Professors T. S. Ying and B. L. Guo for their taxonomic guidance.

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Correspondence to J. Q. Li.

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Zhang, Y.J., Dang, H.S., Wang, Y. et al. A taxonomic revision of unifoliolate Chinese Epimedium L. (Berberidaceae). Kew Bull 66, 253–262 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-011-9275-y

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