OBTUSO-LINEARE Hayata, 1913

Type : S. Nagasawa s.n., Fokien, April 1910.

Distribution : Taiwan (Fokien) (Fokien is the name of 3 small archipelagos off the coast of Fujian Province : Matsu Islands, Wuqui Islands and Kinmen Islands.) - see Note below.

Description :

Stems erect, to 12 cm high.

Leaves irregularly alternate or ternate, 7 x 1.5 mm, apex obtuse.

Flowers 5-merous, yellow, in terminal cymes 1.5 x 3 cm.

Sepals linear-lanceolate, 4 x 1.3 mm, apex obtuse, base subpeltate.

Petals ovate-lanceolate, 4.5 x 2 mm, apex obcuneate-acute to obtuse, base narrowed.

Note :

In the 1. ed. of the Flora of Taiwan S. obtuso-lineare was treated as a synonym of S. lineare. The latter was collected in Taipei County, Tanshui and Shihting (Chung 265) while S. obtuso-lineare was described from plants collected in Fokien. In the 2. ed. of the Flora of Taiwan it was listed as a synonym of S. mexicanum. The latter was collected in Taipei County (Chung 265) and in Taoyuan County – again not in Fokien. In Flora of China, 2001, Fu & Ohba treated S. obtuso-lineare as a synonym of S. yvesii, that means according to them neither S. lineare nor S. mexicanum are occurring in Taiwan, instead it is S. yvesii which is growing there ! What is correct now – i.e. what really is S. obtuso-lineare Hayata ?