Cytotaxonomical studies on the Caltha palustris complex (Ranunculaceae) inPoland. Preliminary report

The karyology of representatives of morphologically differentiated taxa wit hin the Caltha palustris complex was studied. Examination of plants from te n populations of C. palustris subsp. palustris from Poland indicated the do mination of somatic chromosome numbers 2n = 32 and 56, with 2n = 32 and 56 for var, palustris, 2n = 56 for var. radicans and 2n = 56 for var, cornuta. C. palustris subsp. laeta from the Tatra Mts. had chromosome number 2n = 6 2. Mixoploidy was characteristic of the material, with a range of euploid a nd aneuploid chromosome numbers from 2n = 25 to 2n = 94. Only three plants (from Mrzezyno, Duninowo and Olkusz) uniformly had 2n = 32. Detailed biomet ric analyses seem to point to the lack of a simple relation between karyolo gical and morphological variability in representatives of the C. palustris complex occurring in Poland.