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The genus <i>Lemanea</i> is an evolutionally derived lineage of freshwater Rhodophyta which has a rare distribution. Morphological characterization and molecular phylogenetic analyses were conducted for a <i>Lemanea</i> specimen collected from Guilin, China, in this study. The results based on morphological observation and molecular evidence, including <i>rbc</i>L and SSU sequences, showed it was a new record of <i>L. manipurensis</i> Ganesan, West, Zuccarello et Rout in China. The specimen in this study was morphologically characterized by branches that were positioned in the lower part of the thallus, hair cells absent around the outer cortex, ellipsoidal and single carpospores at the top of the gonimoblast filaments and spermatangia formed in continuous wide rings on the thallus nodes. By comparing the morphology of specimens collected from Guilin, China, and the holotype specimen in India, it was found that the spermatangial shapes were variable among different populations. It was found that the presence or absence of hair cells around the outer cortex was not a reliable characteristic for the identification of the genus <i>Lemanea</i> based on a comparison between <i>L. manipurensis</i> collected in Guangxi and in India and another four <i>Lemanea</i> species previously recorded in China. The results of this study provided molecular evidence and a theoretical basis for molecular phylogenetic research on the genus <i>Lemanea</i> and enriched the species diversity and geographical distribution of <i>Lemanea</i> in China.