94 



NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



To behold this noble plant, an acre at a time in full bloom, is the sight 

 of a lifetime to a lover of the beautiful. Ranunculus Godleyanus, a 

 yellow buttercup found near the source of the Rakaia and its tribu- 

 taries, is nearly as striking, and so also is the more northern R. insignis. 

 The white 7?. Buchanani of the Otago mountains is splendid also ; 

 and mention must be made of the more recently named R. Matthewsii. 

 which worthily bears the name of its energetic discoverer. The 

 Mount Egmont buttercup (R. nivicola) is one of the features of that 

 mountain, and is very plentiful also on the upper slopes of Tongariro. 



FIG. 43. Cehnixia spectabilis. 



[Photo, W. C. Davirs. 



R. lobulatus, a plant of easy culture and of large size, is confined to the 

 Kaikoura Mountains. 



Generic names are frequently hideous, but in Cchnisia we have one 

 dainty enough to take a foremost place among those feminine floral 

 appellations now so popular. And well does a race of plants so beau- 

 tiful deserve a fitting title. On every mountain-side at all seasons 

 it is the celmisias (figs. 43 and 44) that give the characteristic stamp 

 to the meadows, filling the air with aromatic fragrance, and delighting 

 the eye with their beauty of form or abundance of flowers. With one 



