Before 2010, Hemiboea Clarke (1798: 18) included about 23 species and 5 varieties mostly in central, southern and southwestern China, northern Vietnam and southern Japan (Ryukyu Islands), with the highest species diversity in southern and southwestern China (Weber 2004, Li & Wang 2004). Over the last two decades, 11 new taxa have been found and described in southern and southwestern China: eight new species and one new variety from Guangxi province (Li 2004, Li & Liu 2004, Xu et al. 2010, 2012, Wen et al. 2011, 2013, Pan et al. 2012, Zhou et al. 2013), two new species from Yunnan (Zhang et al. 2014, Chen et al. 2018), and one from Guizhou (Li et al. 2018). Meanwhile, the genus Metabriggsia Wang (1983: 1) including two species was revised and merged within Hemiboea (Weber et al. 2011). Additionally, H. subcapitata var. pterocaulis Li (2004: 261) was assigned from a variety to a distinct species, namely H. pterocaulis (Z.Y.Li) J.Huang, X.G.Xiang & Q.Zhang in Huang et al. (2017: 8) based on extensive morphological, phenological and molecular studies.
Raphiocarpus taygiangensis, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Tay Giang District, Quang Nam Province, Central Vietnam, is here described and illustrated. The new species is diagnostic by the combination of its long stem, serrate leaf margin, purple spots, purple longitudinal lines, and glandular short hairs inside corolla. Morphological distinctiveness of the new species from the most similar species, Raphiocarpus axillaris, is discussed. The conservation status of this species is estimated as Vulnerable (VU D2) according to the IUCN Red List Criteria.
Leptomischus multiflorus, a new species of the tribe Argostemmateae (Rubiaceae), is described and illustrated. The species was discovered in 2022 in Quang Nam Province, southern Vietnam. The new species is characterized by rich indumentum on almost all plant parts, distylous flowers, and minutely puberulent ovary disk. Leptomischus multiflorus differs from all its congeners by the following features: leaf blades up to 23 cm long with up to 25 pairs of secondary veins, many-flowered inflorescences, and corolla tube 7–8 mm long and hairy outside. It additionally differs from the morphologically closest species, L. anisophyllus, in weakly anisophyllous to nearly isophyllous leaves, calyx lobes 2–2.5 mm long (about 1/3 length of corolla tube), corolla lobes with horn-like appendages, anthers 1–1.3 mm long, style hairy in distal half, pin flowers with filaments adnate at the middle of the corolla tube and with stigma lobes 1 mm long, and thrum flowers with style 2.5–3 mm long.
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