Panzerina lanata ( L. ) Sojak complex is distributed on the Mongolia plateau.
Twenty-two populations representing six species in the complex: P. lanata, P. alaschani-
ca, P . kansuensis , P . albescens , P. argyracea and P . parviflora , were sampled through-
out the range of the complex including 2 provinces and 3 autonomous regions. Extensive
studies were carried out by comparison of wild collection and cultivation, and morphological
analysis based on character evaluation and multivariate procedures. It is showed that there ex-
ists considerable phenotypic plasticity in some morphological characters, especially those of
the root, caudex and leaf. However, the characters of flowers, capsules and seeds were less
influenced by environments. The character analysis indicates that some characters, which
were used to distinguish taxa of the complex, for example the degree of leaf division, the
morphology of calyx and so on, are continuous in a wide range in wild populations. Some
“species” in the complex described according to the differences in those characters are only
extreme individuals within their continuous variation. As a result, the above analysis and
their geographical distribution suggest that P. alaschanica , P. kansuensis , P. albescens be
actually the extreme individuals within P. lanata. In the same way, P. argyracea is in-
valid. The principal components analysis of 11 morphological characters on the individuals
from 22 populations shows no differences. Thus, this paper considers that characters such as
nutlet with or without wart, size of corolla exceeding calyx or not and dry flowers with or
without colour, may be used to distinguish taxa of this complex. From the above analysis, it
is indicated finally that the six species in this complex are better reduced taxonomically into
two species, namely P. lanata (L.) Sojak and P. parviflora (C. Y. Wu et H. W. Li)
Y. Z. Zhao, the difference of two species as follow:
Nutlet surface smooth; corolla, 2～2.2 cm long; flower white and unchanging after dry
.......................................................... Panzerina parviflora
Nutlet surface tuberculate; corolla, 2.5～ 4 cm long; flower white, but becoming yel-
lowish after dry ....................................................... P. lanata
