Callianthemum C. Meyer

Herbs, perennial, small, tufted or diffusely spreading; roots fibrous; rootstock covered by old leaf sheaths, stemless. Leaves radical, sheathing, tri-paripinnate, the divisions 2- or 3-pinnatifid; petioles long. Scape 1-flowered, erect, leafy or naked. Rowers actinomorphic, white or with pink tinge. Sepals 5, deciduous, shorter than petals. Petals (honey leaves) 5 - 20, spathulate, each with a nectar pit in lower half. Stamens many; anthers long. Carpels many, shortly stipitate; styles minute; ovule 1, pendulous. Fruit a 1-seeded follicle, ovoid or oblong, shortly stipitate in subglobose heads; styles curved.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Lamina of leaves deeply lobed; lobes dissected into slender linear segments

2. Calcallianthemum anemonoides

b. Lamina of leaves shallowly lobed; lobes spreading and fan-shaped or overlapping

2

2a. Radical leaves thick, rarely fully developed at flowering time; lobes overlapping

1. Callianthemum alatavicum

b. Radical leaves fully developed at flowering time; lobes spreading, fan-like

3. callianthemum pimpinelloides

List of Lower Taxa