New tropical plant found in Wenshan, SE Yunnan

Researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences announced yesterday on February 26 that a new tropical species has recently been found and named by them as Salacia malipoensis (Celastraceae).

Back in April, 2019, two botanists of the garden Shen Jianyong and Ma Xingda found that one shrub of Salicia genus collected from a place named Malipo in southeast Yunnan’s Wenshan city had been misidentified.

After reviewing a great amount of literature and conducting comparative studies, they confirmed it as a new species of Salacia.

According to Shen, Salacia is widely distributed in tropical areas around the globe, with approximately 200 known species. And in China, 7 out of 11 species that have been identified so far come from Yunnan province.  

Reporting by Yang Zhigao and Ma Yongjiao; trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong