This study describes and illustrates Chrysosplenium
macrospermum Y.I.Kim & Y.D.Kim, a new plant species from Changbaishan Mt. (Baekdusan Mt.) in northeastern China. The species is most similar to Chrysosplenium
valdepilosum in the series Pilosa but is readily distinguishable by short arching sterile branches, multiple (up to 3) flowering stems, and smooth surfaced seeds (without tubercles), which are ca. 30–50% larger than those of other members in the series.
Sonerila cardamomensis, a new species of family Melastomataceae from the Central Cardamom Protected Area in Koh Kong province of southwestern Cambodia, is described and illustrated. The species is similar to S. violifolia Hook.f. ex Triana, but is readily distinguished by its cordate leaf base, lack of setae at the nodes, longer pedicels, smaller petals, smaller hypanthiums and smaller capsules.
<i>Saxifraga cortusifolia</i> Siebold & Zucc. (Saxifragaceae, sect. <i>Irregulares</i>, ser. <i>Rufescentes</i>), a species considered endemic along mountain streams throughout Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu in Japan, was discovered as a wild population in the Cheona Valley in Haean-dong, Jeju-si on Jeju-do Island of Korea. The population consisted of three subpopulations occupying narrow areas 10 × 10 m<sup>2</sup>, 5 × 5 m<sup>2</sup>, and 10 × 5 m<sup>2</sup> in size. The number of individuals in the three subpopulations was confirmed to exceed 100. Most of the individuals were on or below rocks at the edge of the valley. A morphological description, detailed photos, and a key to related taxa in Korea are presented.
Chrysosplenium aureobracteatum Y. I. Kim & Y. D. Kim (Saxifragaceae) is a recently described endemic species growing in the central part of the Korean peninsula. It requires constant monitoring for conservation due to its limited distributions. There is also a need for molecular markers for proper assessments of the genetic differentiation of C. aureobracteatum from species morphologically similar to it. In this study, we developed microsatellite markers that can be used to evaluate the genetic diversity of this species, representing fundamental data with which to conserve the natural populations of the species. A total of 17 expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers were developed by the Illumina pair-end sequencing of the transcriptomes of C. aureobracteatum. These markers were successfully applied to populations of C. aureobracteatum and to its most closely related species, C. barbatum, revealing high polymorphism in both species. The EST-SSR markers developed in this study were proven to be useful not only to monitor the population genetic structure of C. aureobracteatum for conservation purposes but also to study the genetic delimitation of the species from species closely related to it.
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