A new hybrid for genus Cymbidium in China: Cymbidium ×gammieanum and its molecular evidence for taxonomic classification

A new hybrid for genus Cymbidium in China: Cymbidium ×gammieanum and its molecular evidence for taxonomic classification

A new recorded natural hybrid of Cymbidium (Orchidaceae), C.×gammieanum, from Yunnan Province, China, is illustrated and described. This taxon is documented to occur in Nepal and India, and early taxonomic literature records indicate that this taxon was proposed to have arisen from natural hybridization between C. erythraeum and C. elegans. Morphologically, it exhibits a mosaic of traits from C. erythraeum and C. elegans, with diagnostic differences in leaf shape, labellum color, inflorescence attachment and floral morphology. Molecular analyses based on nuclear (nrITS) DNA reveal a well-supported sister-group relationship (PP=0.94, BPML=73) between the hybrid and C. erythraeum, while plastid DNA (matK and rbcL) phylogenies identify it as a well-supported sister taxon to C. elegans (PP=0.96, BPML=59). This study provides the first maternal lineage evidence from chloroplast genes for the hybrid origin of C.×gammieanum, and validates the long-proposed parental hypothesis with a combined molecular, morphological, and ecological evidence chain, thereby enriching the diversity data of natural hybrids in Cymbidium from China.