A new species of Aeschynanthus Jack (Gesneriaceae) from North East India

A new species Aeschynanthus clarkei sp. nov. is described and illustrated from the Nagaland state of Northeast India. Morphologically, this species closely resembles to Aeschynanthus lineatus Craib in having sessile inflorescences, but differs in leaves elliptic-lanceolate vs narrowly to broadly elliptic or lanceolate to obovate; calyx lobes linear vs lanceolate-linear to linearoblanceolate. It also appears to be morphologically similar to Aeschynanthus angustioblongus W.T. Wang in leaves shape but differs in having leaves margin prominently dentate vs margin entire and flowers in pair vs flower solitary. This species is narrowly confined to Kiphire district of Nagaland, in a small population comprising about 35 matured individuals in two localities. The threat status of this new species is provisionally assessed here as“Critically Endangered CRB2ab(III); D)”following the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 16 (2024).