EVALUATING THE RELATIONSHIP OF AUTUMN BUTTERCUP (RANUNCULUS-ACRIFORMIS VAR AESTIVALIS) TO SOME CLOSE CONGENERS USING RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA

Autumn buttercup, an endangered endemic of wet, saline meadows in Garf ield County, Utah, is treated differently in various taxonomic referen ces now in use in the region. The taxon is currently listed as endange red by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service under the name Ranu nculus acriformis var. aestivalis L. Benson. Others treat it as R. acr is var. aestivalis (L. Benson) Welsh. In an attempt to resolve the tax onomical disagreements and to quantitatively describe the genetic uniq ueness of this taxon, putative close relatives of the autumn buttercup , namely R. occidentalis (Nevada County, CA), R. acris (introduced fro m Europe and now growing wild in Rich and Cache counties, UT), R. acri formis var. montanensis (Lincoln County, WY), R. acriformis var. acrif ormis (Emery and Sanpete counties, UT), and R. acriformis var. aestiva lis were collected and analyzed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) genetic markers amplified from total cellular DNA extracts. Tw enty-three decanucleotide primers of arbitrary sequence were used for DNA amplification; over 350 markers were generated. The genetic marker data were analyzed using similarity coefficients and parsimony. Based on the results of those analyses and on a review of ecological and mo rphological characteristics, we have elevated the autumn buttercup to species rank as Ranunculus aestivalis (Benson) Van Buren and Harper.