New taxa of Rhododendron tschonoskii alliance (Ericaceae) from East Asia

Three new taxa, Rhododendron sohayakiense Y. Watan. & T. Yukawa (Ericaceae), and its two varieties, var. kiusianum Y. Watan., T. Yukawa & T. Minamitani and var. koreanum Y. Watan. & T. Yukawa are described and illustrated from Japan and South Korea. They can be distinguished each other and from the other members of the R. tschonoskii alliance, i.e. R. tschonoskii, R. tetramerum, R. trinerve and R. tsusiophyllum, by the combination of leaf size, leaf morphologies including lateral nerves on abaxial leaf surface, corolla morphologies including number of corolla lobes, style length and anther form. Phylogenetic inferences based on chloroplast DNA and genome-wide sequences revealed that each of the three new taxa is monophyletic and they further form a clade. Distributions of the three taxa are also clearly separated each other and also from the other members of the R. tschonoskii alliance.