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A new species of freshwater alga, <i>Chara zhengzhouensis</i>, is described and illustrated based on material collected in a lake at Zhengzhou, in Henan Province, China. Phylogenetic analysis of sequence data from the 18s rDNA, <i>rbc</i>L, and <i>atp</i>B indicated the separation between <i>C</i><i>. zhengzhouensis</i> and other species of the genus <i>Chara</i>. Additionally, from a morphological point of view, <i>C</i><i>. zhengzhouensis</i> differs from another closely related species, <i>C. connivens,</i> in its diplostichous cortex and corticate or ecorticate in based segments of branchlets. Therefore, the results based on both morphological observation and molecular evidence facilitated the proposal of this new species—<i>C</i><i>. zhengzhouensis</i>. It represents another species in the charophyte diversity in China and the description of this new species provides more molecular data for phylogenetic analysis of the genus <i>Chara</i>.