Discovery of Actaea heracleifolia (Ranunculaceae) in Western Hubei, China and the Phytogeographical Significance

Abstract:

Based on observations of herbarium specimens and living plants in wild populations, Actaea heracleifolia (Ranunculaceae), a species previously recorded in China only from Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Nei Mongol, has been confirmed to occur also in northeastern Hebei, western Hubei, and eastern Shandong. Actaea heracleifolia is thus disjunctively distributed in northern and central China. The cause for the formation of this geographical disjunction is discussed.