(1) In this paper, differences among the five genera constituting the tribe Cimi-
cifugeae of the family Ranunculaceae are discussed. Beesia, the first genus, with compound
cymes and flowers bearing neither petals nor staminodes, is different from the other four
genera with simple or compound racemes and flowers bearing either petals or staminodes,
and may occupy a primitive position within the tribe. As to the other four genera, Souliea is
characterized by the stem without basal leaf but with 2～5 sheath-like cataphylls, the sepals
being deciduous but not caducous, moderate in size and petaloid, the petals being much
smaller than sepals, but pink in color and more or less petaloid, the pollen grains being pan-
tocolpate or pantoporate, the carpels being 1～3 per flower, when mature forming dry linear
follicles conspicuously reticulate on the surface and dehiscent along the ventral suture, and
the seeds being reticulate-foveolate on the surface. These diagnostic characters indicate clear-
ly that Souliea might have deviated from the lineage formed by the next three genera, i. e.
Anemopsis, Cimicifuga, and Actaea, which have their own well-recognizable diagnostic
characters. Anemopsis is characterized by the normally developed basal leaf, the racemose
inflorescence with sparse and few long pedicellate flowers, the sepals 7～10 in number, mod-
erate in size, and petaloid, the petals slightly smaller than sepals, the tricolpate pollen
grains, the carpels 2～4 per flower, stalked, when mature forming dry oblong follicles with
transverse veins on the surface, and the seeds with scaly membranous wings. Cimicifuga is
distinguished by the normally developed basal leaf, the caducous, small, often sepaloid sepa-
ls, the organs of the second floral whorl sometimes with empty sterile anthers being stamin-
odes not petals, the tricolpate pollen grains, the carpels 1～8 per flower, when mature form-
ing dry oblong or ovoid follicles with transverse veins on the surface, and the seeds usually
with scaly membranous wings. The last genus Actaea is different by the basal leaf trans-
formed into a small scale, the caducous, small, often sepaloid sepals, the organs of the sec-
ond floral whorl being clawed petals, the pollen grains with 3(4～6) colpi, carpel 1 per flow-
er, when mature forming a fleshy indehiscent berry smooth on the surface and without any
veins, the seeds roughish or slightly rugose, neither foveolate nor winged on the surface, and
the advanced most asymmetric karyotype. According to the diagnostic characters given
above, we believe that Beesia, Souliea, Anemopsis, Cimicifuga, and Actaea do represent
five independent genera, and the treatment of the tribe Cimicifugeae including these five
genera in it by Hutchinson (1923), Janchen (1949) and some other authors, has precisely
shown the taxonomic diversity within the tribe. We are therefore unable to accept the treat-
ment published by Compton et al. (1998) to lump the two genera, Souliea and Cimicifu-
ga, into the genus Actaea. (2) Compton et al. (1998, 1997) found out that the Chinese
plants previously identified by various authors as Cimicifuga foetida L., in which the ter-
minal and lateral racemes of the compound raceme flower more or less simultaneously, differ
from the true C. foetida L. in northern Asia, in which the terminal raceme of the com-
pound raceme flowers before the lateral ones, and thus restored the species name Cimicifuga
mairei Lévl. , which was formerly reduced to the synonymy of C. foetida L. , for the Chi-
nese plants. After examining the specimens collected from Siberia and from Southwest China
we failed to find out any other differences in both vegetative and reproductive organs between
the plants of the two regions, and we consider that it is better to treat the populations in
Southwest and Central China as a geographical variety of Cimicifuga foetida L. A new
combination, Cimicifuga foetida L. var. mairei (Lévl.) W. T. Wang & Zh. Wang, is
thus made. (3) 3 species of Delphinium, 1 species and 1 variety of Clematis are described
as new.
