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Paraquilegia
Paraquilegia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae.[1] The genus was segregated out from the genus Isopyrum in 1920 by British botanists James Ramsay Drummond and John Hutchinson. The native range of the genus is temperate central Asia.[2]: 47–48 [1] Despite the genus encompassing a relatively small number of taxa, there has been significant disagreement among taxonomic authorities regarding how many Paraquilegia species there are and what they are named.[2]: 49 [3] DescriptionParaquilegia are a genus of perennial herbs. They possess thick rhizomes. The plants' leaves are in a basal arrangement (growing out from the base of the stem). They have five sepals and five petals.[4] Members of Paraquilegia possess flowers that present singly and can feature color. They have nearly sessile nonpeltate petals with a degree of concaveness or swelling near their base. The plants' petals are significantly smaller than their sepals.[5] The surface texture of seeds in the genus can vary from wrinkled to smooth. The seeds frequently require at least two years to germinate, producing small seedlings that were described as "columbines dancing on the head of a pin" by American botanist and gardener Robert Nold.[2]: 48–50 TaxonomyIn 1920, British botanists James Ramsay Drummond and John Hutchinson published a paper, "A Revision of Isopyrum (Ranunculaceae) and Its Nearer Allies", in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information to address problems that had developed within the genus Isopyrum. Prior to their paper, the genus had permitted substantial morphological variance to coexist with certain species demonstrating greater affinities towards the genus Aquilegia (columbines).[6] Part of the pair's proposed resolution was creating Paraquilegia and expanding the genus Semiaquilegia.[2]: 46 In proposing Paraquilegia, Drummond and Hutchinson sought to segregate Central Asian Isopyrum with features similar to those of Aquilegia. The pair identified one such feature as the mature follicles on Isopyrum grandiflorum (which the pair renamed Paraquilegia grandiflora and now called Paraquilegia anemonoides) and its allies.[6][2]: 48–49 Their 1920 paper considered Paraquilegia to have the most "primitive" (basal) features compared to related genera.[6] Drummond and Hutchinson proposed that the genera of Semiaquilegia and Isopyrum evolved from Paraquilegia and that Aquilegia processed out from Semiaquilegia.[6] Contrary to what the genus's name suggests, Paraquilegia is more closely related to several Ranunculaceae genera native to Asia other than Aquilegia. These include Leptopyrum, Urophysa, and Isopyrum.[3] CultivationThe genus is known as difficult to cultivate. Grown by rock gardeners, the genus is known to require specific conditions, such as north-facing crevice gardens. According to Nold, "the most notable thing" about the genus was how "serious rock gardeners" spoke of the Paraquilegia, in "hushed and awed voices".[2]: 48 He compared Paraquilegia's "aristocratic demeanor and tendency to sulk" to Aquilegia jonesii.[2]: 48 Nold noted in 2003 that seeds were available from private seed lists produced by "expeditions to the remote – and potentially dangerous – locations that are the haunts" of Paraquilegia.[2]: 48 In 2023, the British botanist Christopher Grey-Wilson reported that members of the Alpine Garden Society, the Scottish Rock Garden Club, and other growers had recently achieved success in cultivating Paraquilegia. According to Grey-Wilson, sufficient drainage was a fundamental requirement for successfully growing the genus.[3] SpeciesA number of species have been assessed as under the genus Paraquilegia, either as new species or reassessment from other genera:[1]
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