Flora of New Zealand Series

Lvs paler green, only sparsely hairy, rather more coarsely crenate; fls paler; achenes less hairy. Type locality: Mount Ruapehu. Type: BD 70696a, Ruapehu, c. 6000', seepage on hillside, R. Mason.

Colenso described three spp.: 1. R. ruahinicus Col. in T.N.Z.I. 18, 1886, 256 from "spurs of the east slopes of the Ruahine mountain range . . . Nov. 1885; Mr. H. Hill ", said to have "larger, ribbed, and cilliated sepals . . . deeply emarginate . . . petals . . . single glandular depression". The specimen at K has laminae 8-12 × 12 cm.; fls c. 3·5 cm. diam.

2. R. sychnopetala Col. in T.N.Z.I. 25, 1893, 324 and 26, 1894, 313, from "Ruahine Mountain-range, east side, near summits of lateral spurs, 1891: Mr. A. Olsen." This has petals "pale yellow", 40-45, cuneate, 17 × 5 mm., tip rounded, and as Colenso says "may prove to be a ' monster ' (or double) form".

3. R. rufus Col. in T.N.Z.I. 28, 1896, 591, from "Ruahine Mountain-range, east side: Mr. H. Hill 1894; Mr. E. W. Andrews, 1895. Colenso's description includes: "Carpels many, closely packed, forming ovoid heads (immature), 1/2 in. long, hairy, with long hairy tails, their upper portion having a flattish submembranous margin, tips acute, glabrous". The specimen at K, in rather poor state, is hardly separable from R. insignis.