Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 69(2): 295-305. 2017 
doi: 10.26492/gbs69(2).2017-08 
295 
Two new species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae) 
from Northwest Vietnam 
W.H. Chen 1 , D J. Middleton 2 , H.Q. Nguyen 3 , H.T. Nguyen 3 , L.V. Averyanov 4 , R.Z. 
Chen 1 , K.S. Nguyen 5 , M. Moller 6 & Y.M. Shui 1 
‘Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, 
Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 
132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China 
y mshui @ mail .kib .ac.cn 
2 Herbarium, Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Parks Board, 
1 Cluny Road, 259569 Singapore 
3 Center for Plant Conservation of Vietnam (CPC), 
Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, 
25/32 Lane 191, Lac Long Qua Road, Hanoi, Vietnam 
4 Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, 
Prof. Popov Street, 2, RU-197376, St Petersburg, Russia 
institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, 
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 
18 Hoang Quoc Viet Road, Hanoi, Vietnam 
6 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, 
Edinburgh EH3 5LR, UK 
ABSTRACT. Two new species of Oreocharis (Gesneriaceae), O. argyrophylla W.H.Chen, 
H.Q.Nguyen & Y.M.Shui and O. blepharophylla W.H.Chen, H.Q.Nguyen & Y.M.Shui, from 
the Xuan Nha nature reserve, Van Ho district, Son La province, in northwestern Vietnam are 
described. They are compared to their most similar species and diagnostic characteristics are 
provided. 
Keywords . China, corolla colour, Indo-China Peninsula, Thailand 
Introduction 
The genus Oreocharis Benth. in the Gesneriaceae has recently been greatly enlarged 
by the inclusion of a number of other genera (Moller et al., 2011). Most of the 
approximately 113 species are found in China, with a few species also in north-eastern 
India, northern Myanmar, northern Thailand and northern Indo-China (Moller et 
al., 2011, 2015, 2016; W.H. Chen et al., 2014, 2016; Cai et al., 2015; Yang et al., 
2015, 2017; Wei et al., 2016; R.Z. Chen et al., 2017; Do et al., 2017; Li et al., 2017). 
A recent botanical exploration in north-western Vietnam near the border to Laos 
resulted in collections of two unknown Oreocharis species. After consultation of the 
literature (Pellegrin, 1930; Wang et al., 1990, 1998; Ho, 2000; Li & Wang, 2004) and 
examination of type specimens, as well as comparison to other species in the genus, 
