Ceropegia vietnamensis Nguyen-Phi & Luu, a species of the Trúc Đào family (Apocynaceae), has just been announced as a new species for science with a standard specimen obtained in Nature Reserve Park of Bình Châu- Phước Bửu, in Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province. This new species (Vietnamese name: Lồng đèn, means Vietnamese Lantern) is morphologically similar to Ceropegia laotica Rodda & Meve, especially in flower colour. However, the distinguishing feature between these two species is the number of flowers in each inflorescence, with 1–2 flowers in C. laotica and 3–30 flowers in C. vietnamensis.

 

 

In terms of ecology, the new species was found growing under the canopy of sparse forest periodically flooded dominant by wood species such as Melaleuca cajuputi L. (Tràm Nước), Dipterocarpus intricatus Dyer (Dầu Lông), Dipterocarpus obtusifolius Teijsm. ex Miq. (Dầu Trà beng) and mixed with other vines such as Dioscorea sp. (Khoai Mài), Streptocaulon kleinii Wright & Arn. (Bạc Căn), Tetracera scandens (L.) Merr. (Dây Chiều), Stemona pierrei Gagnep (Bách Bộ).

The genus Ceropegia L. sensu stricto, with more than 200 species, is distributed mainly in Southeast Asia, China, India, Madagascar, Arabia, the Canary Islands, Africa, Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia. This genus includes many species of ornamental value grown in many parts of the world. With a narrow distribution and a small number of individuals, Ceropegia vietnamensis has been proposed as Critically Endangered (CR) according to IUCN Red List standards.

The article by D. Sc. Lưu Hồng Trường (Southern Institute of Ecology), D. Sc. Nguyễn Phi Ngà (Department of Ecology-Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology-Biotechnology, University of Science, VNU-HCM) and Eng. Lê Văn Sơn (Nature Reserve Park of Bình Châu – Phước Bửu) published in Academia Journal of Biology Vol. 44 No. 4 (2022) on December 29th, 2022:

Link to download the article: https://vjs.ac.vn/ind…/vjbio/article/view/17594/2543254635

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