Identifying the richness and evolutionary relationships of Ranunculus sect. Batrachium in its diversity centre in south-western Europe.

ABSTRACT: Aquatic plants are generally attributed to have larger ranges than their terrestrial counterparts, but this knowledge is often hindered by insufficient exploration of their diversity. To fill this gap, we investigated the taxonomically extremely challenging aquatic plant group Ranunculus sect. Batrachium in south-western Europe, which is an important glacial refugium, using flow cytometry, chromosome counting and DNA sequencing (ITS nuclear region and two non-coding plastid regions). In a dataset comprising 587 individuals from 117 localities, we detected 36 cytotypes across seven ploidy levels, which included a considerable proportion of previously unrecognized diversity consisting of three high ploidies (7x, 10x, 12x), seven cryptic species, two additional unclassifiable biotypes and nin

SUBMITTER: Prancl J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12018967 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature