Flora of New Zealand Series

Perennial; rosettes tufted along stout arching stolons. Basal lvs obovate, distinctly rounded to a truncate base, bluntly toothed at apex or sometimes shallowly 3-fid, glabrous above, glabrous or hairy beneath and on petiole, 1-3.5 × 1-3 cm; cauline lvs opposite or in lax whorls, similar to basal but smaller, sometimes entire. Pedicels very short at flowering, terete, hairy, elongating to 1.5-3 cm long at fruiting. Fls c. 10 mm diam. Sepals spreading, glabrous. Petals 5 or 0, yellow, narrowly obovate; nectary single, c. 1 mm from petal base, covered by a small triangular scale. Receptacle glabrous or sparsely hairy. Achenes 20-25, slightly flattened, glabrous, sometimes purple-blotched; body 2-2.5 mm long; beak straight, c. 0.3 mm long.

S.: S. Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury.

Endemic.

Swamps, streamsides, seepages.

Some collections from mid and S. Canterbury are smaller and approach R. simulans. Forms of R. foliosus with short stolons may approach R. cheesemanii; these are readily distinguished by their hairier, more deeply 3-lobed lvs.