Qiong Yuan

Phylogeny and reclassification of Aconitum subgenus Lycoctonum (Ranunculaceae)

Phylogenetic analyses were performed using multiple nuclear (ITS and ETS) and chloroplast regions (ndhF-trnL, psbA-trnH, psbD-trnT, and trnT-trnL) to test the monophyly of Aconitum subgen. Lycoctonum (Ranunculaceae) and reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships within the subgenus. The subgenus as currently circumscribed is revealed to be polyphyletic. To achieve its monophyly, sect. Galeata and sect. Fletcherum, both being unispecific and each having a unique array of characters (the latter even having the aberrant base chromosome number of x = 6), must be removed from the subgenus. The subgenus Lycoctonum should thus be redefined to include only two sections, the unispecific sect. Alatospermum and the relatively species-rich sect. Lycoctonum. The section Alatospermum, which is both morphologically and karyologically in the primitive condition, is resolved as the first diverging lineage of the subgenus Lycoctonum clade. The monophyly of sect. Lycoctonum is strongly supported, but all the ten series currently recognized within the section are revealed to be para- or poly-phyletic. Five major clades are recovered within the section. We propose to treat them as five series: ser. Crassiflora, ser. Scaposa, ser. Volubilia, ser. Longicassidata, and ser. Lycoctonia. Thus, a formal reclassification of subgen. Lycoctonum is presented, which involves segregating both sect. Galeata and sect. Fletcherum from the subgenus as two independent subgenera within the genus Aconitum, reinstating one series (ser. Crassiflora) and abolishing six series (ser. Laevia, ser. Longibracteolata, ser. Micrantha, ser. Ranunculoidea, ser. Reclinata, and ser. Umbrosa) within sect. Lycoctonum. The series affiliation of some species within the section is adjusted accordingly.

Lectotypification of the name Thalictrum purdomii (Ranunculaceae)

Thalictrum purdomii Clark (1913: 39) was described on the basis of a gathering, W . Purdom 169 (K), which includes two plants grown from seeds collected from northern China. Wang & Wang (1980) pointed out that the two plants represent two different taxa, with one sheet (K000694124; Fig. 1) belonging to T. minus var. hypoleucum (Siebold & Zuccarini 1846: 178) Miquel (1867: 3) and the other (K000694123; Fig. 2) belonging to T. squarrosum Stephen ex Willdenow (1799: 1299). As a result, they cited T. purdomii as synonyms of both T. minus var. hypoleucum and T. squarrosum , not proposing a lectotypification for the name. Fu & Zhu (2001) cited T. purdomii as a synonym of only T. minus var. hypoleucum , but they also did not designate a lectotype for T. purdomii .