Caltha Caltha, L.

1. C. palustris L. View in CoL , Sp. Pl. 558 (1753).

Stems 15-3O(-6O) cm, hollow, glabrous, creeping and rooting, to erect. Leaves crenate to dentate; basal long-petiolate, cauline smaller, shortly petiolate to subsessile. Flowers 1-5-5 cm in diameter; perianth-segments bright shining yellow above, often greenish beneath. Ripe follicles 9-18 mm, beaked, erect or recurved. 2« =32, 53-62, with 0-6 B chromosomes. Most o f Europe, but very rare in the Mediterranean region. All except Az BI Co Cr Sa Sb Si Tu. This species varies greatly in many characters such as habit, size, shape of leaf and follicle and in chromosome number. Several taxa have been described from Europe and given specific or subspecific rank; these have been mostly based on follicle characters, which seem to vary independently of other morphological characters and of chromosome number. The following taxa, the status of which is doubtful, are recognized in some European floras, in addition to C. palustris : C. cornuta Schott , Nyman & Kotschy, Analect. Bot. 31 (1854). R.ipe follicles recurved and narrowed to an acute apex. C. Europe, Italy, Balkan peninsula. C. laeta Schott , Nyman & Kotschy, op. cit. 32 (1854). Ripe follicles with the dorsal side straight or slightly curved, the ventral side rather strongly curved, and often with a long beak. Widespread, from France and Poland southwards. C. longirostris G. Beck , Verh. Zool. -Bot. Ges. Wien 36: 348 (1886). Ripe follicles gradually narrowed into a beak 4-6 mm long. Jugoslavia. C. minor Miller , Gard. Diet. ed. 8, no. 2 (1768). Follicles like those of 1 but plant small; stems decumbent or procumbent and often rooting at the nodes; flowers up to 3 cm in diameter, solitary or few; perianth-segments narrow. N. Europe.

C. polypetala Höchst. ex Lorent , Wanderungen 339 (1845). Perianth-segments 7-10, narrow. Bulgaria.