KUNMING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese botanists have named a newly recorded species Firmiana daweishanensis of the genus Firmiana Marsili after its finding place in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The new species was first discovered as an unusual porteranthus Firmiana during a floristic survey in 2013. It was finally determined as a new species after a thorough investigation, morphological studies and preliminary molecular identification, according to Zhang Guiliang, deputy head of the forestry and grassland bureau in Hekou County.

Xiang Jianying, a botanist and biodiversity researcher at the Yunnan-based Southwest Forestry University, said this rare species is mainly distributed in Hekou, Gejiu and Maguan in the Daweishan Mountains region, with no more than 50 individuals as confirmed by surveys to date.

With limited local distribution and extremely small populations, the species was rated as an endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List categories, Xiang said.

Scientists noted that the discovery of Firmiana daweishanensis has further enriched the biodiversity assemblage in the Daweishan Mountains region with extremely rich biodiversity and expanded members of the genus Firmiana.

More importantly, its special morphological traits have great scientific value and imply that Firmiana in a broad sense necessitates further research. Enditem