A Gram-staining-negative, non-motile, yellow-coloured, rod-shaped bacterium, designated S44T, was isolated from bankside soil of Xixi wetland, located in Zhejiang province, China. Growth of strain S44T was observed at 6–37 °C (optimum, 28 °C) and at pH 6.0–9.0 (optimum, 7.0). No growth occurred in the presence of >2 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain S44T represented a member of the genus
Flavobacterium
, showing the highest sequence similarities to the sequences from
Flavobacterium succinicans
DSM 4002T (96.9 %),
Flavobacterium reichenbachii
WB 3.2-61T (96.6 %) and
Flavobacterium glycines
NCBI 105008T (96.5 %). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 33.6 mol%. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0 and summed feature 3 (comprising C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH), and the major respiratory quinone was menaquinone 6 (MK-6). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, two unknown aminolipids, two unknown aminophospholipids and four unknown polar lipids. On the basis of the phenotypic and genotypic data, it is proposed that the isolate S44T be classified as representing a novel species of the genus
Flavobacterium
, for which the name Flavobacterium palustre sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S44T ( = CGMCC 1.12811T = NBRC 110389T).