New species of Paraphlomis found in south China

This undated file photo shows a new plant species, Paraphlomis baiwanensis, found in a nature reserve in south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua)

GUANGZHOU, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Researchers recently described a new plant species, Paraphlomis baiwanensis, found in a nature reserve in south China's Guangdong Province. The findings have been published in the international journal of plant taxonomy, PhytoKeys.

A scientific expedition team spotted an unknown species from the Lamiaceae family during an in-depth biodiversity survey across several karst mountains in 2023 in Qingyuan City, Guangdong.

Following a year-long field investigation and research based on morphology, molecular phylogeny, and population genetics, the team confirmed it as a new species and named it "Paraphlomis baiwanensis W.Y. Zhao, Y.P. Chen &Q. Fan."

Currently, only one population of fewer than 100 individuals has been found, growing on limestone mountains at an altitude of approximately 300 meters in the Baiwan Provincial Nature Reserve in Qingxin District of Qingyuan, according to Fan Qiang, an associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at Sun Yat-sen University and one of the authors of the paper.