SEXUAL POLYMORPHISM OF <i>RANUNCULUS CASSUBICUS</i> (RANUNCULACEAE) IN MOSCOW REGION

Abstract

For the first time, gynodioecy is described in a perennial herbaceous polycarpic plant Ranunculus cassubicus L. (Kashubian buttercup) in the Moscow Region. It was revealed that R. cassubicus forms three types of flowers differing in the androecium structure: perfect (with fertile stamens and carpels), partially male-sterile (the number of stamens varies greatly and is much less than in perfect flowers), and pistillate ones (stamens completely missing). The sizes of flowers and their parts decrease in many studied parameters in the following row: perfect – partially male-sterile – pistillate. The studied 12 populations included six types of individuals forming: 1) only perfect flowers (83.1–89.2% of the total number of generative plants); 2) perfect and partially male-sterile flowers (4.0–6.5%); 3) only partially male-sterile flowers (2.8–3.9%); 4) perfect and pistillate flowers (1.4–2.6%); 5) pistillate and partially male-sterile flowers (1.2–2.9%); 6) only pistillate flowers (0.6–1.5%). It is established that over three years of observations (2020–2022), individuals of different sexual forms did not change the sex of flowers, and the sexual structure of populations remained stable, without sharp fluctuations.