TY - JOUR AU - Fritsch, Peter W. AU - Lu , Lu AU - Zhang, Ming-Ying AU - Wang, Hong AU - Li, De-Zhu PY - 2017/11/29 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Morphology corroborates DNA sequence data in the species-level recognition of Gaultheria trichophylla var. tetracme (Ericaceae) JF - Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas JA - J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas VL - 11 IS - 2 SE - SYSTEMATICS DO - 10.17348/jbrit.v11.i2.1074 UR - https://journals.brit.org/jbrit/article/view/1074 SP - 343-349 AB - <p><em>Gaultheria trichophylla</em> var. <em>tetracme</em> of <em>G.</em> series <em>Trichophyllae</em> (Ericaceae) has been distinguished from the nominate variety of <em>G. trichophylla</em> by the presence of two awns on each anther theca (versus one). Phylogenetic data based on plastid DNA sequences placed <em>G. t.</em> var. <em>tetracme</em> in a different clade than the nominate variety with strong statistical support, suggesting that <em>G. trichophylla</em> is not monophyletic. To investigate this further, we studied the morphology of these two taxa in the field and with herbarium material. We found that <em>G. t.</em> var. <em>tetracme</em> differs substantially from the nominate variety in morphology, not only by the number of anther awns, but also the larger size of many features, e.g., plant height, leaves, and pedicels, a greater number of leaf marginal setae, and a distinct geographic range. On this basis, we elevate <em>G. t.</em> var. <em>tetracme</em> to the species level as <em>Gaultheria tetracme,</em> endemic to the Hengduan Shan in Sichuan Province, China. We note the wide morphological variation in the remainder of <em>G. trichophylla</em> and indicate specific problems that should be investigated in more detail for better understanding the taxonomy of this species.</p> ER -