| Coptidium (Nyman) Tzvelev | |
| Publ. & Syn. | Ranunculus subg. Pallasiantha L.D. Benson, Amer. J. Bot. 27: 807 (1940). |
| Notes | Elven, Murray, Rebristaya, Tzvelev, and Yurtsev: We accept Coptidium apart from Ranunculus. Whittemore (1997) assigned C. lapponicum and C. pallasii to two different subgenera (of Ranunculus) but the frequent hybrid C. x spitsbergense suggests a close relationship. All three taxa share at least two important diagnostic characters for Coptidium vs. Ranunculus s. str.: the flower fragrance and the corky fruit structure with floating tissues. Elven: Coptidium lapponicum and C. pallasii group together and constitute a major branch, together with the non-arctic genus Ficaria, outside the Ranunculus core clade in the molecular analyses of the Ranunculus group of genera (Hörandl et al. 2005; Paun et al. 2005). There is good molecular support, in addition to morphology, for acceptance of Coptidium (and Ficaria) as genera apart from Ranunculus. Nyman's name Coptidium was applied as a genus name for the three species below from the 1960's but was first validly published at rank of genus by Tzvelev (1994). This means that all species combinations within Coptidium published before 1994 are illegitimage (i.e., those by Löve and Löve 1961a, 1963 and by Hadac in Löve and Löve 1963). |
| Chromosomes | 16 (2x). - Europe (N), Canada, U.S.A., Greenland, South America. - Numerous reports. |
| Geography | Asian (N/C) & North American: ALA CAN GRL. |
| Parent taxon | Ranunculaceae |
| Child taxa |
Coptidium lapponicum (L.) Tzvelev Coptidium pallasii (Schltdl.) Tzvelev Coptidiumspitsbergense (Hadac) Elven |
| PAF ID | 3614 |