A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped, yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, XC0022T, isolated from freshwater of a limpid stream in Zhejiang, China, was studied using a polyphasic approach. The phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences clearly showed an allocation to the genus Chryseobacterium with the highest sequence similarities of 98.0 % to Chryseobacterium taeanense PHA3-4T, 97.2 % to Chryseobacterium taihuense THMBM1T, 97.1 % to Chryseobacterium rigui CJ16T and 97.1 % to Chryseobacteriumprofundimaris DY46T. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to all other species of the genus Chryseobacterium were below 97.0 % (92.3-96.8 %). DNA-DNA hybridization results showed that strain XC0022T was 55.3 %, 49.8 % and 31.1 % related to C. taeanense DSM 17071T, Chryseobacteriumtaichungense DSM 17453T and Chryseobacteriumgleum JCM 2410T, respectively. The quinone system was composed only of MK-6. Strain XC0022T possessed iso-C15 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, C18 : 1ω9c and summed feature 3 (iso-C15 : 0 2-OH/C16 : 1ω7c) as the major fatty acids. The polar lipids profile consisted of one phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified glycolipid, four unidentified aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 29.7 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic data, strain XC0022T (=KCTC 52364T=MCCC 1K02723T) represents a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium, for which the name Chryseobacterium lineare sp. nov. is proposed.