昆明拉拉藤 kun ming la la teng

Herbs, perennial, erect, (12-)15-20(-25) cm tall. Stems with 4 prominent and rounded angles, with scattered antrorsely (or sometimes also retrorsely) curved short hairs, more dense at nodes; internodes 1.5-4 cm at middle stem regions, longer or somewhat shorter than leaves. Leaves in whorls of 4; blade drying leathery, broadly lanceolate, (10-)15-25(-35) × (4.5-)6-7.5(-9) mm, length/breadth index (2-)2.5-3.5(-4), glabrous, adaxially papillose, abaxially without glandular idioblasts, base cuneate, margins revolute, antrorsely aculeolate, apex acute but not acuminate; 3 prominent principal veins extending into apex region. Inflorescences pyramidal, with cymes from middle to upper stem nodes and terminal, several to many flowered; axes glabrous, somewhat divaricate; peduncles mostly 1.5-4 cm; pedicels (0.5-)1-5 mm; bracts lanceolate, small and inconspicuous. Flowers hermaphroditic. Ovary obovoid, ca. 0.5 mm, glabrous, smooth. Corolla white to greenish, cup-shaped or campanulate, (2-)2.3-2.5(-2.7) mm in diam., fused at base for ± length of 4 free lobes, 0.8-1 mm, lanceolate, acute but not apiculate. Mericarps ovoid, 1.5-3 mm, glabrous and ± smooth. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Open grasslands and rocky slopes; 1900-2500 m. C Yunnan.

The new Galium kunmingense clearly belongs to G. sect. Platygalium. Among species in the section with corollas basally fused to ca. 1/2 the length Microphysa elongata deviates by leaves with only one main vein, somewhat inflated fruit mericarp, and funnelform corollas. Galium platygalium and G. maximoviczii have similar corollas but deviate by their broader and 3-5-veined leaves. Closer relationships can be assumed for some E Asiatic Galium species with rotate corollas: G. kinuta has glabrous fruit but narrower, adaxially punctate-striate glandular leaves, slender, more floriferous inflorescences, and larger flowers. Apparent relatives with rotate and smaller flowers are G. hupehense with spreading straight fruit hairs, G. chekiangense with appressed curved fruit hairs, and particularly G. yunnanense, with spreading uncinate fruit hairs. This latter is ± sympatric with G. kunmingense but differs not only by its rotate (not campanulate/cup-shaped) and smaller corollas and uncinate fruit hairs, but also by its more hairy and abaxially punctate-striate glandular leaves. It is remarkable that G. kunmingense, a quite conspicuous species that evidently was not too rare in the surroundings of the capital of Yunnan, has remained unnoticed up to now.