Table 2.

Morphological comparisons of S. qingyuanense, S. alfredii, S. emarginatum, S. jinglanii.

Character	Species
	S. qingyuanense	S. alfredii	S. emarginatum	S. jinglanii
Fertile stems	4–15 cm	10–20 cm	10–27 cm	10–15 cm
Phyllotaxy	opposite, sometimes alternate	alternate	Opposite	opposite
Leaf apex	emarginate	obtuse sometimes emarginate	Emarginate	obtuse sometimes emarginate
Leaf blade	spatulate to broadly obovate	linear-cuneate, spatulate, or obovate	spatulate-obovate to broadly obovate	spatulate or obovate
Leaf size	1.1–5.9 × 0.5–1.4 cm	1.2–3 × 0.2–0.6 cm	1–2 × 0.5–1 cm	0.8–2.9 × 0.4–1.2 cm
Pseudopetiolate	conspicuously 8–24 mm	inconspicuously	Inconspicuously	inconspicuously
Sterile stem	creeping	ascending	absent	ascending
Sepal shape	linear-spatulate	linear-spatulate	lanceolate to narrowly oblong	linear-spatulate
Sepal size	1.8–3.2 × 0.5–1.5 mm	3–5 × 1–1.5 mm	2–5 × 0.7–2 mm	2–3.1 × 0.7–1.4 mm
Flowering	March–April	April–May	May–June	April–May