A new plant has been discovered in China: Beichuan donkey foot grass

According to Xinhua News Agency, Chengdu, November 6 (Reporter Chen Di) the reporter learned from the Xiaozhaizigou National Nature Reserve Administration in Beichuan County, Sichuan Province on the 6th that after three years of scientific research and demonstration, it was confirmed that a new plant, Beichuan donkey foot grass, had been found in the reserve.

It is understood that the person who discovered the species for the first time and drew the attention of plant experts was Zhang Tao, a worker in Xiaozhaizi Nature Reserve. He first discovered this strange plant when he built a scientific research cabin in Shuicaokou area of Beichuan Pankou Nature Reserve on April 27, 2013. Therefore, the Latin name of the new species is Caltha dysosmoides Tao Zhang et al, which is literally translated as "donkey hoof grass like star anise", that is, the first name is Zhang Tao. Since the new species was first discovered in Beichuan, Zhang Tao named it "Beichuan donkey hoof grass" in Chinese.

Since it was discovered in 2013, Chinese experts have spent more than three years. Through field investigation, literature review and specimen comparison, and supported by the molecular systematic results of the joint construction of nuclear gene and chloroplast gene, it is considered that this species is obviously different from the known species of donkey hoof, which is characterized by fine serrated leaf margin, curved pedicel, scarlet flower, wide and flattened stamen, and finally confirmed as a new species-Beichuan donkey hoof. The findings have recently been published in Phytoaxa, a professional journal of plant taxonomy (SCI).

It is reported that the growth environment of donkey foot grass in Beichuan is evergreen deciduous broad-leaved forest belt, coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest belt, subalpine coniferous forest belt and alpine meadow. This species usually grows in valley streams or wet meadows, and sometimes grows on grassy slopes or in shady and humid places under the forest.