Ranunculus sericophyllus Hook.f.
Tufted perennial, 5-20 cm tall; rhizome stout. Lvs broadly ovate, deeply 2-ternatifid, fleshy, with silky hairs or rarely glabrous, 3-15 cm long; ultimate lobes linear-lanceolate, acute. Scapes 1-(2)-flowered, erect, with silky hairs. Fls 3-5 cm diam. Sepals spreading, with silky hairs. Petals 5-8, yellow, broadly obovate; nectaries 3, 2-3 mm from petal base, linear, naked. Receptacle glabrous. Achenes many, turgid, glabrous; body 1.5-2 mm long; beak straight, 1.5-2.5 mm long.
S.: Canterbury, Westland, Otago, Fiordland.
Endemic.
Alpine to nival rocky and stony places often kept moist by meltwater, (915)-1525-2150 m.
Fisher (1965, op. cit.) gives a fuller description and an illustration.
