Ehretia pranomiana sp. nov. (Boraginales: Ehretiaceae), a new scrambler from Thailand

Ehretia pranomiana sp. nov. is illustrated and described from northern and south-western Thailand. The new species is similar to E. macrophylla and E. acuminata by having elliptic leaves with a serrate margin, but can be distinguished by its scrambling shrubs, leaf blades with densely hispid, corymbose inflorescence with 4–10 flowers, the corolla with erect lobes and the calyx longer than fruit at maturity. An updated species identification key is provided., Specimens from AAU, ABD, BK, BKF, BM, CMU, E, K, KKU, L, QBG and SING were consulted (abbreviations following Thiers, 2022). Species delimitation was examined by consulting relevant literature: Clarke 1885, Gagnepain and Courchet 1914, Johnston 1951, Zhu et al. 1995, Riedl 1997, Mill 1999, Kress et al. 2003. All morphological characters were described using the terminology presented by Weberling (1992). Qualitative observations and measurements were made from the specimens, and descriptions and illustrations were prepared using these data. Distribution, ecology, and phenology were recorded from specimen labels and fieldwork. The collection sites were imported into SimpleMappr (Shorthouse 2010) to create a distribution map. GeoCAT (Bachman et al. 2011) was used to calculate the area of occupancy (AOO) and extent of occurrence (EOO). Preliminary conservation assessments were prepared using the Categories and Criteria of IUCN Standards and Petition Committee (2019).,