Ledebouria mavelii (Asparagaceae), a new species from Palakkad gap, Kerala, India

Ledebouria mavelii, a new species from Asparagaceae, is described and compared with L. hyderabadensis, L. karnatakensis, and L. revoluta. L. mavelii is confined to Palakkad District, Kerala. Detailed description, distribution, phenology, photographs, and key to Ledebouria species in India are provided. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted using sequences of two plastid genes, the maturase-coding gene (matK) and the large subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-coding gene (rbcL) as DNA markers. The phylogenetic trees constructed from matK and rbcL data successfully distinguished each species from one another.

Methods
The sequence data was obtained thorugh sanger sequencing of the sample of the plants collected form the type location

马拉维绵枣儿（Ledebouria mavelii）为天门冬科（Asparagaceae）一新物种，本文对其进行分类学描述，并将其与海德拉巴绵枣儿（L. hyderabadensis）、卡纳塔克绵枣儿（L. karnatakensis）及反卷绵枣儿（L. revoluta）开展比对分析。该物种仅分布于印度喀拉拉邦帕拉卡德县（Palakkad District）。文中提供了该物种的详细形态描述、分布信息、物候学数据、实物影像资料，以及印度境内绵枣儿属（Ledebouria）物种的分类检索表。
本研究以两个质体基因序列作为DNA分子标记：其一为编码成熟酶的matK基因（maturase-coding gene, matK），其二为编码核酮糖-1,5-二磷酸羧化酶大亚基的rbcL基因（large subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-coding gene, rbcL），并完成了系统发育分析。基于matK与rbcL序列构建的系统发育树可有效区分各供试物种。

材料与方法
本研究通过对模式产地采集的植物样本进行桑格测序（Sanger sequencing），获取了所需的序列数据。