Summary
Critical specimen examination and in vivo observations show that Melliodendron xylocarpum var. roseolum is morphologically no different from M. xylocarpum var. xylocarpum, with respect to purported diagnostic characters of twig shape and petal colour, as well as other fundamental characters, and should not be recognised as distinct and is here treated as a synonym of the nominate variety. A discussion of the morphological variation and geographical distribution of M. xylocarpum is given, as well as lectotypification of the synonyms.
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Acknowledgements
We thank curators of AU, CDBI, CSFI, CSH, E, FJFC, FJSI, GXMG, GXMI, HUH, HX, IBSC, IBK, JIU, JXAU, KUN, NAS, P, PE, SM and SYS for their permission to examine herbarium specimens or use the high-resolution images of specimens. We also thank Dr B. J. Ge from Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, X. X. Zhu from Xinyang Normal University, CFH (Chinese Field Herbarium) and PPBC (Plant Photo Bank of China) for the help or permission to provide colour images of Melliodendron xylocarpum for us to check, and to Mr Q. S. Xu from South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences for his help providing literature for us to study. Special thanks to Mr Z. P. Yu for his help during our field work in Jiangxi Guanshan National Nature Reserve. We also thank the reviewers for their comments and suggestions to improve the paper. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31960043, 31960335) and Education Department of Jiangxi Province (grant no. GJJ170255).
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Wu, XH., Zhang, R., Utteridge, T.M.A. et al. A review of the Chinese monotypic genus Melliodendron (Styracaceae), with a new synonym of M. xylocarpum. Kew Bull 75, 53 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-020-09913-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-020-09913-4