An actinomycete, strain FXJ46(T), was isolated from cypress forest soil in northern China and shown to have chemotaxonomic and morphological properties consistent with streptomycetes. It developed greyish aerial mycelium and pinkish-brown substrate mycelium on oatmeal agar. Phylogenetic analyses based on an almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of the strain and on the 120 nucleotide variable gamma-region of this molecule showed that it formed a distinct (but closely associated) line with Streptomyces griseoaurantiacus DSM 40430(T) in Streptomyces trees. However, the DNA-DNA relatedness between the two strains was only 48.8%. A number of phenotypic properties also readily distinguished the isolate from S. griseoaurantiacus and related Streptomyces species with validly published names. It is proposed, therefore, that this organism be classified as a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces jietaisiensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is FXJ46(T) (=AS 4.1859(T)=JCM 12279(T)).