Nothapodytes is a small genus of evergreen or deciduous trees in the family Icacinaceae, with about eight to eleven species, distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of Asia. 

During a botanical survey in Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar, in 2017, researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) collected an unknown species of Nothapodytes. It belongs to Nothapodytes because its distinctive lorate hairy petals are connated at the base, and the fleshy foliaceous disk is divided into five leaf-like lobes. 

The researchers named it Nothapodytes burmanica to refer to its type locality in northern Myanmar and had it published in Nordic Journal of Botany. 

Morphological and phylogenetic evidence suggests that it is close to N. pittosporoides.  Phylogenetic results indicate that N. burmanica is deeply nested within the genus and forms a sister group of N. pittosporoides. 

Morphologically, Nothapodytes burmanica is a shrub of 1.5-3.0 meters tall. It is similar to Nothapodytes pittosporoides in having sparsely hairy, oblong, or oblanceolate leaves, but differs from it in having leaf bases that are usually oblique, and in having a paniculate inflorescence with more numerous but smaller flowers with shorter petals. 

Nothapodytes burmanica is known only from its type locality, Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar. It grows along the edges of dense forests and roadsides. It is one of the many new species discovered by researchers from CAS in Myanmar's rich biodiversity in recent years.  

"During 2014-2019, nine China-Myanmar joint scientific expeditions on biodiversity led by the Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute of CAS (CAS-SEABRI) made significant progress, and the total contribution of new species of Myanmar plants published by SEABRI in 2017-2020 was nearly 50%, which means that SEABRI is one of the leading avenues for the discovery of new species in Myanmar," said TAN Yunhong of XTBG. 

 Nothapodytes burmanica (Image by TAN Yunhong) 

 Nothapodytes burmanica (Image by TAN Yunhong) 

 Nothapodytes burmanica (Image by TAN Yunhong) 

 Nothapodytes burmanica (Image by TAN Yunhong)