Phylogeographic analysis of Pulsatilla alpina (Ranunculaceae), including a relic population from the Harz Mountains (Northern Germany)

Abstract

Pulsatilla alpina (L.) Delarbre subsumes up to nine subspecies with a complex distribution pattern in European alpine regions, ranging from Northern Spain through the Alps to the Carpathian Mountains. Populations also occur on mountain ranges in Corsica, Italy and the Balkan peninsula, as well as in some low mountain ranges north of the alpine arc. Though the species complex was morphologically extensively studied, the conspecific status of the subspecies and phylogenetic relationships between them remain unclear.