Flora of New Zealand Series

Tufted, scapose perennial, (5)-10-35 cm tall; rhizome 0. Lvs simple, oblanceolate to ovate to very broadly ovate or obovate, (3)-5-9-(11)-toothed, sometimes shallowly 3-5-lobed, hairy, (5)-10-20 × (4)-8-18 mm. Fls solitary, long-stalked, 10-20 mm diam. Scapes terete, hairy; hairs often wavy, sometimes appressed above. Sepals spreading, hairy. Petals 5-(6), yellow, often purplish beneath, obovate or narrow-obovate; nectary single, basal, covered by a truncate scale. Receptacle hairy. Achenes 15-30, flattened, glabrous, 2-3.5 mm long; beak curved or ± straight, 0.5-1 mm long.

N.: Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and adjacent mountain ranges; S.: Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, Southland.

Endemic.

Lowland to subalpine tussock grassland, mostly in well-drained sites.

R. multiscapus is the earliest available name for the plants formerly known incorrectly as R. lappaceus Smith. The latter is an Australian sp., and not known from N.Z.