Caltha

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Genus of flowering plants

title: "Caltha" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["caltha", "ranunculaceae-genera"] description: "Genus of flowering plants" topic_path: "general/caltha" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltha" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of flowering plants ::

| image = Michigan Marsh Marigolds.jpg | image_caption = Caltha palustris ↑habit, ↓seeds | image2 = Caltha palustris seeds USDA.jpg | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Caltha | authority= L. | type_species = Caltha palustris | type_species_authority = L. | synonyms = |Thacla|Spach |Psychrophila|DC | synonyms_ref =

Caltha is a genus of rhizomatous perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae ("buttercup family"), to which ten species have been assigned. They occur in moist environments in temperate and cold regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Their leaves are generally heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, or are characteristically diplophyllous (the auricles of the leaf blades form distinctly inflexed appendages). Flowers are star shaped and mostly yellow to white. True petals and nectaries are missing but the five or more sepals are distinctly colored. As usual in the buttercup family there is a circle of stamens around (two to twenty-five) free carpels.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Caltha_obtusa_pollen_polar_view.jpg" caption="follicle]]s, with elliptic to globular light brown to black seeds without wings, dependent on the species between 0.5 and 1.5 mm. In ''C. scaposa'' follicles are [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stipitate stipitate] and in ''C. leptosepala'' short stipitate to sessile. ''C. natans'' grows floating in fresh waters or on mud, but all other species are terrestrials that grow in moist soils."] ::

Key to the species

This key makes use of the taxonomic opinions and characters described in Smit (1973). ::data[format=table]

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-
Leaves with leaflike appendages on the upper face of the leaves, or arrowhead-shaped with the basal portion mostly folded over the rest of the leaf. Flowers always solitary on short leafless peduncles. Pollen always tricolpate (microscope). In C. novae-zelandiae some plants lack appendages, but these are plants up to about 10 cm with spade-shaped leaves. → 2
Leaves kidney- to elongated heart-shaped, never with leaflike appendages. Flowers solitary on longer stems or in a corymb, either or not with leafy stipules. Pollen tricolpate, pantocolpate or pantoporate. Plants usually over 10 cm. → 7
Appendages merged with the upper surface of the leaf. Leaves long triangular, spade- or spoon-shaped, or divided into two or three lobes. Plants usually 1–12 cm high, in one species occasionally up to 20 cm. → 3
Basal portion at an angle with the rest of the short arrowhead-shaped leaf or rarely in the same plain. Hermaphrodite flower with five to seven ivory sepals, becoming yellowish green later. The plant is usually 10–30 cm in height. Grows in moist open places in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, the Falklands, and Peru.
→ Caltha sagittata
Leaves long triangular, spade- or spoon-shaped, or divided into three lobes. → 4
Leaves divided into an ovate left and right lobe with an entire margin except for toothlike hairs, reminiscent of the leaf of the Venus flytrap. The appendages are identical in shape to the rest of the leaf but smaller. From the top, the sides of the leaf lobes and appendages are in the same horizontal plain. The hermaphrodite flower is greenish yellow, with five to seven dull greenish yellow sepals with a membraneous tip, later on veins and tip becoming dull purplish. Dwarf species of 1–3 cm high. Occurs in wet grassland in southern Argentina and Chile between 50°S and 56°S, including on the Hermite Islands and Cape Horn.
→ Caltha dionaeifolia
Leaves long triangular or spade-shaped. Flowers hermaphrodite. → 5
Leaves spoon-shaped with an entire margin and an indented tip, or divided into three lobes, each with an indented tip, appendages two or three. Functionally male and female flowers on different plants (dioecious). Flowers with ivory to pale yellow sepals, later with purplish margins. Present in the southern Andes of Argentina and Chile, between 35°S and 53°S in moist grasslands.
→ Caltha appendiculata
Leaves spade-shaped. → 6
Leaves elongate triangular to spear-shaped, with two narrow appendages about × as long as the leaf. Flowers with five to eight lanceolate white sepals. In gravelly snow melt trickles in the Australian Alps and on Tasmania.
→ Caltha introloba
Spade-shaped leaves slightly longer than wide, with a slightly scalloped margin throughout and an obtuse or indented tip. Appendages triangular with slightly scalloped margin and an obtuse tip less than half as long as the leafblade and occasionally absent. Flowers with five to eight, mostly pale yellow, narrow ovate sepals (widest between base and middle). Grows on montane and subalpine damp fields in New Zealand south of 39°S.
→ Caltha novae-zelandiae
Spade-shaped leaves about as long as wide, with a scalloped margin at base tending to shallowly lobed, with an obtuse or indented tip. Appendages more than half as long as the leafblade with deeply scalloped to shallowly lobed outer margin and an entire inner margin. Flowers with five to eight white narrow obovate sepals (widest between tip and middle). Inhabits subalpine fields on New Zealand's South Island.
→ Caltha obtusa
Plants with aerial leaves and erect or decumbent stems, sometimes developing roots after flowering. Flowers larger than 1.5 cm with four or mostly five to eight sepals. → 8
Aquatic plant with floating or creeping stems that root at the nodes, with often floating, kidney-shaped leaves of 2–5 cm, sometimes tinged purple. Flowers about 1 cm in diameter (maximally 13 mm) with four or mostly five white or pale pink sepals. Grows in fresh water or on mud in North-America and northern Asia.
→ Caltha natans
Plants 8 to 40 cm. Stems with one or two flowers, without or with one stipule, never rooting at the nodes. Fruits (follicles) seated on the receptacle or on a short stem (stipitate). → 9
Plants 10 to 80 cm. Stems usually with four to nine but occasionally less flowers, with one to several stipules, sometimes rooting at the nodes after flowering. Typical plants have yellow flowers and tricolpate pollen, but a variety with white and mostly pantoporate pollen, and one with magenta flowers exist. Follicles are always seated. Occurs in marches, fens, ditches, wet woods and the bank of streams, from alpine meadows to river deltas, and is widely distributed throughout temperate and arctic Europe, Asia and North-America, but is absent in Franz Josef Land, Svalbard, Greenland, Baffin, Devon and Ellesmere Islands.
→ Caltha palustris
Plants 8–20 cm. Leafblade longer than wide. Flowers one or two on a petiole. Flowers with five to nine yellow obtuse sepals. Follicles stalked. Pollen always tricolpate. In marshy alpine vegetations in the Himalayas between 4000–6000 m from Nepal, Sikkim and southern Tibet to Yunnan and Gansu.
→ Caltha scaposa
Plants 10–40 cm. Leafblade wider than long to longer than wide. Flowers one or two on a petiole sometimes with one stipule. Flowers usually with seven to nine (but occasionally as little as five and as many as thirteen) white or rarely yellow, linear-oblong or oblong-ovate sepals. Follicles mostly seated but occasionally on a very short stalk. Pollen pantoporate, pantocolpate or tricolpate. Grows in western North America, from the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, northwards to southwestern Alaska.
→ Caltha leptosepala
::

File:Flora Antarctica Plate LXXXIV.jpg|C. dionaeifolia File:Psychrophila leptosepala 6814.jpg|C. leptosepala ssp. howellii File:Caltha natans.jpg|C. natans File:Flora Antarctica part 2 plate VI.jpg|C. novae-zelandiae File:Caltha obtusa Steel.jpg|C. obtusa File:Caltha palustris alba 03.JPG|C. palustris var. alba File:Spindotter in bloei met bladoksel.jpg|C. palustris var. araneosa File:Caltha sinogracilis rubriflora.jpg|C. palustris var. purpurea File:Psychrophila sagittata (8407288698).jpg|C. sagittata

Taxonomy

Taxonomic history

The oldest description that is generally acknowledged in the botanical literature dates from 1700 under the name Populago by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in part 1 of his Institutiones rei herbariae. He distinguished between P. flore major, P. flore minor and P. flore plena, and already says all of these are synonymous to Caltha palustris, without mentioning any previous author. As a plant name published before 1 May 1753, Populago Tourn. is invalid. And so is the first description as Caltha palustris by Carl Linnaeus in his Genera Plantarum of 1737. But Linnaeus re-describes the species under the same name in Species Plantarum of 1 May 1753, thus providing the correct name.

Caltha palustris is a highly variable species. When the growing season is shorter, plants are generally much smaller and may root at the nodes of the stems after flowering. Through history, many proposals have been made to split it into different (often numerous) taxa. Popular characters to distinguish between taxa concern the follicle. Most of the differences between populations are probably phenotypic adaptations to particular circumstances without a genetic basis. Variability within populations is also considerable. Varieties that are widely recognised are C. palustris var. palustris, C. palustris var. radicans (small plants with decumbent stems rooting at the nodes), C. palustris var. araneosa (big plants with erect stems forming young plants at the nodes), C. palustris var. alba (with white flowers) and C. palustris var. purpurea (with magenta flowers).

Caltha leptosepala also is highly variable. There may be mostly one or mostly two flowers per stem, many lanceolate sepals or fewer ovate sepals, smaller hart-shaped or larger kidney-shaped leaves, and pollen may be of two different types. Populations on the US westcoast and the US Rocky Mountains consistently differ from each other by fixed combinations of these character states and two subspecies are distinguished: ssp. leptosepala and ssp. howellii. Curiously, these fixed combinations cannot be found in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and in Alaska. For this reason the subspecies status is generally preferred over distinguishing a separate species (Caltha biflora).

Caltha sagittata has a rather large distribution. Usually the leaves have so called appendages, which are lobes at the base that are at a sharp angle with the top lobe. In some northern forms these appendages are in the same plane as the remainder of the leafblade, and these plants are sometimes recognised as C. alata. Some character states gradually change over its distribution area, and the angle of the basal lobes does not seem to be special in this respect.

The remaining species vary less and have not been divided into subtaxa.

Modern classification

Historically, the genus Caltha has been divided over two sections: Populago (now Caltha) that included all Northern Hemisphere species, and Psychrophila that contained all Southern Hemisphere species. The latter is sometimes regarded as a separate genus, but other authors find the morphological differences too small to legitimate that status. Support for both opinions can still be found all over scientific and colloquial sources.

Phylogeny

Genetic analysis suggest that three monophyletic groups can be identified. C. natans turns out to be sister to all other species. It also turns out that C. leptosepala is the sister of all Southern Hemisphere species and should be moved into the Psychrophila group. Within that section the New Zealand and Australian species form one cluster, C. appendiculata and C. dionaeifolia form a second cluster, while the third South American species, C. sagittata, is sister to both these clusters. The remaining Northern Hemisphere species, C. palustris and C. scaposa make up the new content of the Caltha group. This suggests the genus originates in the Northern Hemisphere, and dispersed from North America to South America and from there to New Zealand and Australia. Relations between the species are represented by the following tree.

|label1=genusCaltha |1={{Clade |label1=Thacla-group |1=Caltha natans |2={{Clade |label1=Caltha-group |1={{Clade |1=Caltha palustris |2=Caltha scaposa |label2=Psychrophila-group |2={{Clade |1=Caltha leptosepala ssp. howellii |2={{Clade |1=Caltha leptosepala ssp. leptosepala |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=Caltha sagittata |2={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=Caltha appendiculata |2=Caltha dionaeifolia |2={{Clade |1=Caltha novae-zelandiae |2=Caltha obtusa |3=Caltha introloba

Reassigned species

Some species that were described as Caltha have been reassigned to other genera later on.

Etymology

The generic name Caltha is derived from the (kalathos), meaning "goblet", and is said to refer to the shape of the flower.

Distribution

Caltha species are found in the cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, the Andes and Patagonia, and alpine areas in Australia and New Zealand. It is absent from lower altitudes in the tropics and subtropics, in Africa, on Greenland and some other arctic island, from Antarctica and subantarctic islands and from oceanic islands. C. natans occurs in Siberia and North America, but not in Europe. C. palustris has the widest distribution and is present in the cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but cannot be found in the Western United States. C. scaposa is an alpine species with a limited distribution on the south-eastern rim of the Highland of Tibet. Caltha leptosepala occurs in western North-America from Alaska to California and Colorado. C. sagittata is another species that occurs in moist alpine meadows, in this case from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego, growing at less altitude further from the equator. C. appendiculata occurs in the moist mountains and hills of southern Patagonia. The remaining four species all have limited distribution areas: C. dionaeifolia on the southern tip of Patagonia, C. introloba in the Australian Alps and on Tasmania, C. novae-zelandiae in the mountains of North and South Island of New Zealand, while C. obtusa is restricted to the South Island. Caltha palustris is cultivated as a garden ornamental in all temperate regions and may sometimes have escaped.

Ecology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Marsh_Marigold_080427.jpg" caption="s2cid= 83650928}}"] ::

Although it was suggested that pollination in C. palustris could be assisted by rain, there is also proof for self-infertility. When ripe follicles open, they form a "splash cup" from which seeds are expelled if raindrops hit them at the right angle. C. palustris seeds also have some spongy tissue that makes them float on water, until they wash up in a location that may be suitable for this species to grow. C. introloba was shown to have a life cycle that is adapted to snow cover and a short growing season. Flowerbuds have fully developed when the first snow remains, so that when it melts in spring the flowers can open immediately. Seeds germinate better and faster after a cold period.

References

References

  1. "''Caltha'' L.". Panarctic Flora.
  2. Petra G. Smit. (1973). "A Revision of Caltha (Ranunculaceae)". [[Blumea (journal).
  3. (2004). "Phylogeny and biogeography of ''Caltha'' (Ranunculaceae) based on chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences". [[American Journal of Botany]].
  4. "Caltha sagittata".
  5. Moss, C.E.. (1920). "The Cambridge British Flora". CUP Archive.
  6. Hill, Arthur W.. (1918). "The Genus Caltha in the Southern Hemisphere". Annals of Botany.
  7. "Caltha officinalis".
  8. P.J. de Lange. "Caltha novae-zelandiae".
  9. "Caltha palustris". Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
  10. Judd, W.W.. (1964). "Insects Associated with Flowering Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris L., at London, Ontario". The Canadian Entomologist.
  11. (2012). "Rain pollination provides reproductive assurance in a deceptive orchid". Annals of Botany.
  12. Lundqvist, Arne. (1992). "The self-incompatibility system in Caltha palustris (Ranunculaceae)". Hereditas.
  13. (1985). "Nederlandse Oecologische Flora". IVN.
  14. "Marsh Marigold".
  15. (1989). "The Growth and Development of Caltha introloba F. Muell. - I. The Pattern and Control of Flowering". Australian Journal of Botany.
  16. (1989). "The Growth and Development of Caltha introloba F. Muell. - II. The Regulation of Germination, Growth and Photosynthesis by Temperature". Australian Journal of Botany.

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