An Anemone from New Zealand: a plant hitherto regarded as a species of Ranunculus

Comments on S. B. Hoot's interpretation of Southern Hemisphere relationships in Anemone (Ranunculaceae) based on molecular data [Amer. J. Bot. 87(6, suppl.): 154–155. 2000].

“…Meridium by Ehrendorfer (1995). The new DNA data on relationships of A. antucensis and A. tenuicaulis are confirmed by significant morphological (e.g., with respect to fruit shape) and palynological similarities (pollen principally 3colpate) as already pointed out by Parkin & Sledge (1933) and Huynh (1970a, b).…”

“…1). This is in line with considerable differences in morphology (Parkin & Sledge, 1933) and palynology (Huynh, 1970a, b) between the two species. No karyological data are available for A. crassifolia, but for A. tenuicaulis Hair (1963) has reported a reliable chromosome count of 2n = 28 which fits into the x = 7 clade as a tetraploid.…”

“…A vailable molecular, karyological and morphological data clearly indicate that A. tenuicaulis has reached New Zealand from South America as the only member of the Anemoninae. This has already been suspected by Parkin & Sledge (1933) and Huynh (1970a, b). The alternative suggestion of a direct dispersal from Asia to New Zealand (Schuettpelz & Hoot, 2000) is not compatible with the much closer molecular affinity of A. tenuicaulis with the South American A. antucensis than with the Northern Hemisphere species pair A. dichotoma + A. canadensis.…”