VARIATION IN FLOWERING PARAMETERS WITHIN AND AMONG 5 SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN ALPINE RANUNCULUS

The flowering phenology of the perennial herbs Ranunculus muelleri, R. dissectifolius, R. granticola, R. millanii and R. niphophilus were ch aracterised at two sites over two flowering seasons in the Kosciusko a lpine region of Australia. The date a plant started flowering (mean va lues for species ranged from 8 November to 14 December), the duration of flowering (mean values for species ranged from 14.3 days to 35.1 da ys), asynchrony of flower production (mean values ranged from 1.38 to 10.4 days), asynchrony of first day of flowering (mean values ranged f rom 4.61 to 8.13), intraspecific synchrony (mean values ranged from 0. 53 to 0.73, where a value of 1 equals perfect synchrony), and number o f flowers (mean values ranged from 1.9 to 10.7) all differed between s ites and flowering seasons within species, and among the five species. Thus, while temporal and spatial variation in flowering parameters wi thin species occurred, it did not mask variation among species, with e ach of the five species of Ranunculus having a distinct flowering patt ern.