Abstract: The present paper reports the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of 5 species in Ranunculus from Jiangxi. The result is shown in Table 1-2. The chromosome numbers of R. ternatus Thunb. (2n=4x=32; 2n=2x=16=8m+2sm+6st) , R. polii Franch. (2n = 2x = 16 = 8m+2sm+6st) and R. sieboldii Miq. (2n = 8x-1 = 63 = 15m+18sm+22st+8t) are first reported. The essential points are as follows: (1) The karyotypes of R. ternatus Thunb. and R. polii Franch. are rather similar, which shows a close relationship between the two species. (2) Polyploid complexes are common in Ranunculus. (3) According to the taxonomical system of Wang Wen-cai, the karyotypes of the two species investigated in Sect. Auricomus belong to “2A” of Stebbins; that of the only species in Sect. Hecatonia belong to “2B'; the karyotypes of the two species investigated in Sect. Ranunculus belong to “3A” or “3B”. The relationships among the three sections from thekaryotype are basically consistent with those based on morphology.

Key words: Ranunculus, Chromosome number, Karyotype, Jiangxi