Recently, the Chongqing Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve Management Affairs Center announced that the center, together with researchers from the Chongqing Museum of Natural History, Guangxi Institute of Botany, School of Life Sciences of Southwest University, and Wulipo Nature Reserve Management Affairs Center, found a bitter endive plant very similar to calyptic calendula moss when carrying out a plant resource survey in the reserve. Through the comparison of morphological and molecular systematics studies, it was determined that this species was a new species of endives, and it was named after the place where it was found. The findings have been published in the international academic journal Phytotaxa.
Anatomical comparison of Wuxi horsebell moss (left) and mullein calendula moss (right) taken on June 19, 2022. (Photo by Chen Feng).
According to reports, the leaf base of Wuxi horse bell moss is rosette-shaped, the leaf surface has rust-colored long hairs, the inflorescence stalk is up to 15 cm, the flowers are dark pink to purple-red, the flowering period is from May to June, and it is distributed on the damp stone wall at an altitude of 1000 meters to 1670 meters. At present, only about 500 mature individuals in three populations have been found in Chongqing Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve, all of which are distributed on roadside stone walls and are susceptible to human activities.
It is the second largest genus of the family of Liverwortaceae in China, with about 150 species in the world and more than 130 species in China, mainly distributed in southwest China, and most of them are endemic to China. The discovery of this species reflects the species diversity of Chongqing Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve, which not only enriches the flora of Amaranthaceae, but also provides basic information for the origin and evolution of Liverwort.
Wuxi horsebell moss photographed on April 26, 2021 in Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve in Chongqing. (Photo by Xiong Chi).
Chongqing Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve is located in the eastern part of Wuxi County, Chongqing City, in the hinterland of the Daba Mountains, with complex geological structure, an altitude difference of nearly 2,400 meters, cliffs and canyons can be seen everywhere, and a large number of rare and endangered species are preserved in the northern mountains of the first belt.