Hodgsonia is a small genus of fruit-bearing vines in the family Cucurbitaceae. It consists of only two species, Hodgsonia heteroclita and Hodgsonia macrocarpa. Prof. CAI Citao, founder of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), has ever studied H. macrocarpa in early 1960s and found pyrenes with three of four seeds, which is even more complicated.
During the field work in the second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research, XTBG researchers found some fruit materials similar to Hodgsonia in Motuo County. They then found male and female flowers together with mature fruits. The features are completely different from the other two species. Through the morphological comparison of the other two species, they finally confirmed that this species is new to science.
The new species is named Hodgsonia tsai in honor of Prof. CAI Xitao (or Hse-Tao Tsai) and published in Taiwania.
Hodgsonia tsai is a liana, up to 30 m. It can be distinguished from its congeners by several morphological features. H. tsaii has 10–20 mm long calyx lobes. Its pericarp has 20 grooves, separated by 10 tall ribs and 10 dwarf ribs. Its ovary is with 5 carpels and 10 separate ovules, and 5-lobed stigma.
This species often grows along forest edges, occasionally in the forest, at an elevation of 600–1450 m. Currently only about 100 individuals were observed in Motuo County.
Since this new species is also distributed in Putao in northern Myanmar, it is possible that this species has a relatively wide distribution range. Due to insufficient field investigation, the natural distribution of this species in the wild is not clear. The researchers assessed the conservation status of the new species as Data Deficient.
Contact
SHEN Jianyong
Department of Gardening and Horticulture, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
E-mail: shenjianyong@xtbg.ac.cn
Hodgsonia tsai (Image by SHEN Jianyong)
Hodgsonia tsai (Image by SHEN Jianyong)
Hodgsonia tsai (Image by SHEN Jianyong)
