Panax siamensis J. Wen, a new species of the ginseng genus (Panax, Araliaceae) from northern Thailand

By

Wen, Jun
Krupnick, Gary
Esser, Hans-Joachim

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023

Original Publication

PhytoKeys

Volume

234

Pages

51--59

Subjects

Araliaceae , Conservation , ginseng genus , Panax , Panax siamensis J. Wen

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers [2010]-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.234.106289

 

Abstract

We herein describe a new species, Panax siamensis J. Wen, from the tropical monsoon forests in northern Thailand. Panax siamensis is characterized by a combination of characters including horizontally elongated rhizomes with thick internodes, 3–5 whorled leaves each with 7–9 sessile and lanceolate leaflets, lanceolate bracteoles not persisting at the fruiting stage, 2-locular ovaries, and red fruits with a black top. The new species is most closely related to Panax zingiberensis C.Y. Wu & Feng from southeastern Yunnan province of China, sharing the character of sessile leaflets, but differing in that P. siamensis has well developed, elongated rhizomes (vs. compact, ginger-like rhizomes and rootstock in P. zingiberensis), and 7–9 leaflets (vs. (3–) 5–7 leaflets in P. zingiberensis). We also compare Panax siamensis to other related Asian Panax species, including P. assamicus Banerjee, P. bipinnatifidus Seem., P. pseudoginseng Wallich, and P. vietnamensis Ha & Grushv. The new taxon is preliminarily assessed as Vulnerable (VU D2), according to the IUCN Red List criteria. A taxonomic key is provided to facilitate the identification of P. siamensis and its close allies.