Flora of New Zealand Series

Tufted perennial, to 5 cm tall; rhizome 0. Lvs orbicular or ovate, often dark-blotched, usually 3-lobed to about 1/2 way, rarely entire; lobes crenate or shallowly pinnatifid, sparsely hairy, especially on margins and petiole, or rarely glabrous, 8-15 mm diam.; petiole broad and flat. Fls solitary, sessile or on very short hairy scapes, 5-10 mm diam. Sepals spreading, sparsely hairy. Petals 5, yellow, linear-oblong; nectary single, c. 0.5 mm from petal base, with a very small scale. Receptacle hairy. Achenes 30-60, somewhat flattened, glabrous, brick red with dark tips; body 1.5-2 mm long; beak curved, c. 0.5 mm long.

N.: Kaimanawa Range, S. Taranaki coast; S.: N.W. Nelson coast, Otago (Sandymount), Southland (Bluff) ( var. recens), Lake Manapouri ( var. lacustris Simpson); St.: Mason Bay, East Ruggedy, Big Hellfire ( var. recens).

Endemic.

Sandy coastal sites or inland at 750-1150 m in herbfield ( var. recens), lake shore ( var. lacustris).

There is some variation between sites. Ogle, C., Wellington Bot. Soc. Bull. 40: 50-51 (1978), illustrated and compared the inland and coastal North Id forms. Plants from Lake Manapouri have entire or 3-lobed lvs with entire lobes and smaller fls and have been named R. recens var. lacustris Simpson. Hair, J. B., New Zealand J. Bot. 21: 4 (1983), reported 2 n = 48 for var. recens and 2 n = 32 for var. lacustris but voucher specimens were not cited.