Data from: Phylogenetics support the description of a new Sichuanese species, Susanne's Gentian, Gentiana susanneae (Gentianaceae)

<p>The region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau hosts a remarkable biodiversity, including a plethora of endemics. There, the process of documenting biodiversity is still ongoing, and recently, an unusual plant of <i>Gentiana</i> section <i>Frigida </i>was discovered at Cuopu Lakes (Sichuan, China). Although <i>Flora of China</i> identified these specimens as <i>G. algida</i> based upon unmistakable traits (e.g. corolla colour and length, sessile flowers), it was obvious that the Sichuanese plants strongly differed morphologically from <i>G. algida</i> specimens from Siberia and North America. In order to clarify their relationships, we used an integrative approach, investigating not only morphological traits, but also phylogenetic relationships (based upon plastome and rDNA-cistron), as well as chloroplast structure. Whereas the rDNA-cistron phylogeny was poorly resolved, the plastome phylogeny was well supported in both Bayesian Inference and maximum likelihood analyses. Our findings indicate that the Cuopu Lakes samples of <i>G. algida</i> are morphologically and genetically distinct from those collected elsewhere, supporting the recognition of a new species, <i>G. susanneae</i>.</p>