Piper kiminensis (Piperaceae) a new species with shingling variegated leaves from Arunachal Pradesh, India

Piper kiminensis (Piperaceae), a new species, is described from Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India, along with notes on its habitat, ecology, and conservation status. A dioecious, semi-woody climber with distinct dimorphic branches, it is distinguished from other climbing pipers by its vegetative branches possessing shingled, variegated leaves. The new species does share some similarities with P. obtusissimum in its vegetative branches and P. betleoides in its fertile branches, so a table with detailed morphological features for all three species is provided for easy comparison. For aid in recognition, color photographs are also included. The molecular studies based on the ITS sequence also confirmed the distinctness of the new species from other taxa. Moreover, it shows little similarity with any of the existing Piper species.