Abstract:Berberis paraspecta Ahrendt is an uncertain species in the literatures after its publication in 1961. Thus, some important taxonomic characters of this species were revised based on field surveys and population samplings in Yulongxueshan Mountain, Yulong Xian, northwestern Yunnan Province, combining with checking the type specimen. The fruits are 1-5-fascicled with average of 2.23±1.18, ovaries or young fruits contain 1 to 3 ovules with average of 2.07±0.29, the ripe fruits are black-purple in color, epruinose, contain 1 to 3 seeds with average of 1.77±0.44. The results showed that the key characteristics of 1-seeded and solitary fruits recorded in all relevant literatures doesn’t exist in both the wild populations and the type specimen of B. paraspecta. The coefficients of variation in the taxonomic characters of fruits, seed numbers, ovules numbers, leaves and spines of B. paraspecta were analyzed. Furthermore, photos on the morphology of both living plants in the wild and the type specimen are provided to fill the gap of absence of illustration of B. paraspecta in extant literatures including Flora of China.
