Flora of New Zealand Series

Tufted herb up to 15 cm. or more tall, densely to sparsely hairy. Stock rather stout, erect, sts multicipital. Lvs us.(, radical, on petioles up to 5 cm. or more long. Lamina (0·5)-1-2-(4) cm. diam.; broad ovate to suborbicular in outline, 3-lobed to 3-foliolate, or variously toothed, rarely subentire. Scapes few to many, nude, 1-fld, us. elongating in fruit. Fls small to rather large, pale to golden yellow; sepals 5, spreading; petals 5 (rarely more) obovate to oblong; gland 1 near base. Fruiting heads small; achenes compressed to slightly swollen, glab., margined; style us. rather strongly hooked.

DIST.: N., S., St. Lowland to subalpine, mainly in grassland and herbfield. Also in Tasmania and Australia.

FL.― FT. Spring to autumn.

Many years of intensive study would be necessary satisfactorily to map the maze that is R. lappaceus. Hooker (Fl. N.Z. 1, 1852, 9, t. 5) created his R. multiscapus for certain of the N.Z. forms that in his Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 7 he referred to R. lappaceus as a var. Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 15) named and described three vars. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 21) accepted these, added var. pimpinellifolius (Hook.) Benth. Fl. Aust. 1, 1863, 12 and remarked: "R. lappaceus is probably the most variable of the New Zealand Ranunculi, and certainly the most difficult to characterize." In the 1925 edition he gives exactly the same treatment. Beyond new collections practically no advance has since been made. It is still true that "the distinctions used to separate the so-called varieties are purely arbitrary, every one of them being connected with the others by numerous intermediates".

Var. pimpinellifolius (Hook.) Benth. Fl. Aust. 1, 1863, 12. R. pimpinellifolius Hook, in J. Bot. 1, 1834, 243; Ic. Pl. 1840, t. 260. Here are us. included N.Z. forms with lvs 3-foliolate (rarely with 4 lateral pinnae) and others cut to base into 3-5 segs. The type is a Tasmanian plant. In N.Z. the forms occur mainly in higher montane to subalpine places.

Var. multiscapus Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 7. R. multiscapus Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1852, 9, t. 5. Hooker's original description is: " parvulus, scapigerus, sericeo-pilosus v. glabratus, foliis omnibus radicalibus plurimis 1/4-1/2 unc. longis longe petiolatis trifidis trilobis tripartitisve, segmentis late obovatis v. cuncatis obtusis integerrimis v. grosse crenatis, scapis plurimis erectis demum curvatis teretibus appresse sericeo-pilosis foliis plerumque longioribus, floribus solitariis parvis 2-4 lin. diametr., sepalis 5 patenti-recurvis pilosis, petalis 5-6 oblongis obtusis base fovea nectarifera instructis, receptaculo piloso, carpellis compressis marginatis stylo uncinato terminatis. Tab. V."

Hooker distinguishes his: var. α lvs entire to lobed; var. β lvs 3-segmented; var. γ "coriaceo-carnosa, pilosa v. glabrata. foliis cordatis trilobis rarius integris, scapis paucis folio brevioribus . . . Tetiokara [Titiokura] Hawkes Bay, Colenso." R. muricatulus Col. in T.N.Z.I. 23, 1891, 381; based on specimens from "High, dry, open plains, Tahoraiti, south of Dannevirke," is separated by Colenso by its small size, lvs not > 6-7 mm. diam., purple sepals ("outer ones with broad filmy white edges, very hairy, hairs white, with large muricated bases") petals golden yellow, purplish below.

Most grassland forms are included under Hooker's var. multiscapus.

Var. macrophyllus Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 15. Petioles up to 10 cm. long, laminae 2-4 cm. diam., obscurely 3-lobed, margins crenate to coarsely toothed. Scapes up to 20 cm. long. Fls distinctly larger than in most forms of multiscapus. Original localities: "Nelson, etc." Large flowered forms in general are placed here, but the northern S. Id group are easily separable from multiscapus.

Var. villosus Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 15. Plant us. not > 5 cm. tall, villous or silky in all its parts. Scape silky, us. shorter than petioles; achenes slightly turgid. Kirk gives the dist. as S. "In alpine situations". Densely hairy plants are us. included under this name, but the range of forms is considerable. Kirk suggests that J. B. Armstrong's R. subscaposus var. canterburiensis (T.N.Z.I. 13, 1881, 335) from Canterbury and Nelson, comes here. Armstrong describes the var. as "A small alpine one-flowered herb a few inches high . . . Petioles very slender, 2-4 inches long, with remarkably broad sheaths, glabrous except a few scattered white hairs. Blades about 1/2 an inch long, broadly cuneate, 2-5-lobed, glabrous, coriaceous, lobes not incised. Scape . . . less than 1 inch high, erect, clothed with long shaggy hairs. Flower 1/2-1 inch diam., bright yellow . . . Petals . . . with 1-2 much-depressed glands near the base . . . Upper Rangitata.-Mr. J. F. Armstrong."

Var. nanus (Hook.) Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 10, 1878, appendix p. 29.. R. nanus Hook. in J. Bot. 1, 1834, 242. Kirk's description is: " Stem short, stout; leaves depressed, spreading, hairy or nearly glabrous, 3-5 lobed or partite lobes, cut, and waved; petioles short, broad; flowers sessile, or on a very short scape. Subalpine localities in Otago, J. Buchanan! D. Petrie! ". Dwarfed specimens ± fitting this description occur in subalpine places generally in S.