Calathodes and Megaleranthis are two eastern Asian endemic genera of Ranunculaceae with controversial tribal position and/or taxonomic status. In this study, we used matK sequences to determine the tribal position of Calathodes and Megaleranthis within the family, and three molecular loci (matK, trnL-F, ITS) and morphological data to further clarify their phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status. All analyses show that Calathodes and Megaleranthis belong in the tribe Adonideae, and that Calathodes is monophyletic and closely related to Trollius. The latter two genera share rhizomes not well developed and pollen grains with striate ex ine ornamentation, but markedly differ in petals, follicles, receptacles, pollen grains, and chromosomes. Trollius contains two major clades with different geographical distributions. Megaleranthis is embedded in clade I and sister to Trollius macropetalus, with which it shares fruits with long beaks and a 7 bp deletion in the trnL-F dataset. Adonideae are redelimited as consisting of three genera, Adonis, Calathodes and Trollius. Morphological synapomorphies for the tribe are lacking.