Eranthis Salisb. (Ranunculaceae) in South Siberia: Insights into Phylogeography and Taxonomy

Eranthis Salisb. (Ranunculaceae) is a herbaceous plant genus, including few species disjunctively distributed throughout the temperate zone from Southeastern Europe to Eastern Asia. Until recently, only sibirica DC. was known in South Siberia, being considered endemic and tertiary relict. Not long ago, tanhoensis Erst also described Siberia. We report here reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships between Siberian based on nuclear (ITS) plastid (trnL + trnL-trnF trnH-psbA) DNA. The phylogeographic structure distinguished by presence two “eastern” “western” supergroups, which most likely formed as result disjunction caused active mountain uplifts during late Neogene–early Quaternary subsequent progressive Pleistocene cooling. eastern supergroup combines lineage I, containing populations Khamar-Daban Ridge, Sayan Mountains, Tannu-Ola II western populations. includes III, Western Our data clearly show that E. nested clade, thereby indicating its description separate unjustified, it compromises monophyletic status sibirica. Therefore, we suggest consider synonym