Scientific name: Aspidistra formosa
English name:
Vietnamese name: Tỏi đá đài loan
Other name:

Type: Tillich, 5280 (holotype: M). Type prepared from cultivated plant collected in Ninh Binh province of northern Vietnam (“From a plant in cultivation at the Botanical Garden Munich (accession-nr. 97/2367), collected by J. Bogner, March 1997, in Vietnam, Province Ninh Binh, Cuc Phuong”).

Distribution

 Vietnam provinces: Cao Bang (Bao Lac distict), Nghe An (Ky Son district), Ninh Binh (Cuc Phuong national park) and h anh Hoa province (Ba h uoc district). Endemic.

Habitat, phenology and conservation status

Terrestrial creeping herb with hypo- and epigeous rhizome.

Growing in primary and secondary evergreen broad-leaved lowland forest on limestone, at 300 - 1000 m a.s.l., com-monly on steep rocky shady slopes, often along stream valleys. Flowering in September - November. Common, locally abundant, sometime dominant of the herb forest stratum. Estimated IUCN Red List status: ‘Least Concern’ (LC).

The distribution of this species, originally known only from the type locality, is now known to be fairly wide in the limestone areas of northern Vietnam and probably also in China, Guangxi Province.