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A new species of Acanthaceae, Strobilanthes sunhangii, is described from Mêdog County, Tibet, China. Morphologically, the new species is closely similar to S. medogensis and S. divaricata, but S. sunhangii differs in having glabrous stems, longer spikes, glabrous rachis, double curved corolla and glabrous calyx, different stamens and style.

Here we describe Oxytropis shennongjiaensis, a new species of Fabaceae from Central China (Hubei Province). Morphologically, O. shennongjiaensis is closely similar to O. sitaipaiensis, O. melanocalyx and O. kansuensis, but differs in stem characters, with less conspicuous internodes; persistent herbaceous stipules; pale yellow to white corolla; and stipitate legumes, 3–5 mm with a long beak. Phylogenetic analysis, based on the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and two chloroplast markers (trnL–F and psbA–trnH), also identified O. shennongjiaensis as a new species, which is consistent with our morphological analyses. Considering the morphological data and phylogenetic data presented here, we believe that this evidence satisfies the required diagnostic criteria to identify O. shennongjiaensis as a new species.

Saxifraga viridiflora, a remarkable new species of the genus Saxifraga sect. Irregulares (Saxifragaceae) from Guangxi, is described and illustrated herein. This new species morphologically differs from all known S. sect. Irregulares taxa by its greenish petals, verruculose sepals, and thick leathery leaf blade abaxially scarlet with white spots.

Smelowskia sunhangii, from Qinghai and Tibet (China), is described and illustrated. Morphological and molecular data indicate that S. sunhangii is closely related to Smelowskia tibetica, from which it is easily distinguished by the densely hirsute (vs. glabrous or sparsely pubescent), elliptic to ovate-lanceolate (vs. suborbicular, oblong, or lanceolate) fruits with undulate (vs. straight) margins. A re-evaluation of the widely distributed S. tibetica and related taxa is also provided.

Saxifraga viridiflorum, a remarkable new species of the genus Saxifraga sect. Irregulares (Saxifragaceae) from Guangxi, is described and illustrated herein. This new species morphologically differs from all known congeneric taxa by its greenish petals, verruculose sepals, and thick leathery leaf blade abaxially scarlet with white spots.

Understanding the pattern of species extinction risk is key to biodiversity conservation. Previous studies showed extinction risk correlates strongly with taxon species richness. However, there is no consistent conclusion to this hypothesis, and patterns differ among different taxonomic groups. Here, we collated lists of vascular plant and terrestrial vertebrate species information on their threatened status in Yunnan Province and performed the first systematical analysis to test the relationship between the proportion of threatened or extinct species and species richness at the family-level of the two above taxa in Yunnan Province, China. We found that extinction risk was not randomly distributed among families and the estimated extinction risk was higher among closer phylogenetic families than expected by chance. Moreover, there were significant negative correlations between extinction risk and family size in vascular plants and terrestrial vertebrates. Our results suggest that family size is a good predictor of extinction risk and extinction risk is related to evolutionary history at family-level among vascular plants and terrestrial vertebrates in Yunnan.

A complete chloroplast genome of Actinidia rubus, an endemic shrub in China, was sequenced and identified. The length of genome is 156,573 bp, and the GC content is 37.3%. This genome contains a large single copy (LSC; 88,473 bp) region, a small single copy (SSC; 20,492) region, a pair of inverted repeat (IR; 23,804) regions. A total of 113 unique genes were identified, including 78 protein-coding genes, 31 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis based on complete chloroplast genome of 10 species showed that Actintdia eriantha was sister to A. rubus.

Soroseris umbrella is an alpine medical plant that is distributed in the alpine screes of China, Bhutan, and India. Here, we identified the complete chloroplast genome of S. umbrella. The complete genome size is 152,462 bp, which consists of a large single-copy (LSC) region of 84,125 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,561 bp, a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 24,888 bp each. The overall GC content of genome is 37.7%. A total of 114 unique genes were identified, including 80 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis based on whole chloroplast genome result shows that S. umbrella is most closely related to Taraxacum.