Background: With more than 160 described species, Primulina is one of the most characteristic plant groups of the Sino‑Vietnamese limestone fora. In our continous botanical inventory of the limestone fora of South China, we collected three new Primulina species not identifable to known species.
Results: Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear ITS and chloroplast trnL‑F and trnH‑psbA sequences strongly support the placement the three new species in Primulina. In addition to morphological diferences, DNA sequences of all these three new species show substantial divergencies, sustaining the recognition of these three new species.
Conclusions: Based on morphological and molecular data, we describe and illustrate three new Primulina species: P. maculata, P. pengii, and P. yangshanensis.