Ficaria verna agg.
Island distribution (first record)
Othonoi
! ! ... approved by field observationEreikoussa
Mathraki
!! !! ... approved by herbarium voucherCorfu (Haussknecht 1893a as F. verna)
Paxos
Antipaxos
!! !! ... approved by herbarium voucherLefkada (Cufodontis 1936a as F. verna)
Meganisi
!! !! ... approved by herbarium voucherKalamos (Gutermann & al. 2014 as F. verna s. lat.)
Kastos (Chousou-Polydouri 2005 as Ranunculus ficaria s. l.)
!! !! ... approved by herbarium voucherIthaka (Lindhof 1996 as Ranunculus ficaria)
Echinades
!! !! ... approved by herbarium voucherCephalonia (Unger 1862 as F. calthaefolia)
!! !! ... approved by herbarium voucherZakynthos (Margot & Reuter 1839 as F. ranunculoides)
Strofades
Annotation: The complex of Ficaria verna (often classified as a polymorphic species, and subdivided into subspecies) comprises a series of diploid and tetraploid taxa still not fully understood. At least 3 can be identified as being present on the Ionian Islands, here ranked as species. The diploid F. calthifolia (of low stature, with abbreviated stems and crowded leaves, petals rather wide and overlapping, fruiting heads with well developed nutlets, on peduncles bent downward) is not rare at moderate to fairly high altitudes. The tetraploid F. verna (flowers with narrower petals, fruiting heads erect with predominantly failing nutlets, but with bulbils in the axils of the cauline leaves) is rare in the Mediterranean and probably confined to explicitly mesic habitats of deciduous forests at higher altitudes. F. chrysocephala as understood here occurs usually in damp, nutritious habitats of the lowlands. It comprises robust plants with rather obvious flowers and usually well developed nutlets, but lacking axillary bulbils. It is known as a tetraploid species, but some Ionian populations which fit its morphological definition proved to be triploid. [2016-04-26]