Ranunculus. | RANUNCULACES. 19 
Var. elongatus.—Tall and slender, often over 2 ft. high; sparingly hairy 
or almost glabrate. Leaves trifoliolate or 3-ternately divided, segments cut into. 
numerous narrow acute segments, sometimes almost digitate. Stem branched 
aboye. Differing greatly in appearance from the usual form, and in some 
respects coming nearer to the ordinary state in Australia. It is probably the 
plant referred to R. acris by A. Richard, but can always be distinguished from 
that species by the small flowers and leaves not truly digitate. Lowland dis- 
tricts north of Auckland. 
Var. gracilis.—Slender, erect or suberect, 6-10in. high, sparingly covered 
with silky appressed hairs. Leaves 3-foliolate ; leaflets often long-stalked, 
ovate-cuneate, irregularly and sparingly toothed or lobed. Flowers large, 
4—%in. diam. Achenes larger, with a longer style. Mountain districts 
of the South Island, 38000-4500 ft. This is a well-marked plant, which 
Mr. Kirk described as ‘‘ sub-species plebewus,’’ quoting R. plebeius, R. Br., as a 
synonym. But this I feel sure is a mistake, for it does not at all agree either 
with deseriptions or specimens of R. Brown’s plant. 
Var. stoloniferus, Kirk, l.c——Small. Stems very slender, procumbent 
and rooting at the nodes. Leaves 3-fid. Flowers and fruit very small. Damp 
sub-alpine localities in the South Island, not uncommon. 
21. R. recens, T. Kirk, Students’ F'l. 13.— Short, stout, depressed, 
seldom more than 14in. high, sparingly clothed with stiff white 
hairs, especially on the petioles and upper surfaces of the leaves. 
Rootstock stout, with long stringy rootlets, often branched above. 
Leaves all radical, rosulate, thick and coriaceous; petioles broadly 
sheathing at the base, flattened, +-lin. long; blade ovate or 
rounded in outline, more or less deeply 3-lobed or trifoliolate, seg- 
ments or leaflets irregularly cut and lobed, acute or obtuse. Scape 
very short and often almost absent, usually hispid with white hairs. 
Flowers minute, 4in. diam. Sepals 5, linear or linear-oblong, 
acute. Petals 5, hardly longer than the sepals, linear-spathulate, 
obtuse at the tip, gland just below the middle. Achenes ovate- 
orbicular, red-brown when ripe, slightly compressed; margin 
thickened, blunt; face minutely pitted; style very short, stout, 
minutely hooked at the tip. 
NortrH Isptanp: Taranaki—Moist places on sandhills near Hawera, 7’. I’. C. 
SoutH Istanp: Otago—Buchanan ! Petrie! (Herb. Kirk); sandhills near 
Fortrose, Southland, B. C. Aston! H. J. Matthews! (Herb. Petrie). Probably 
not uncommon, but easily overlooked. 
A very curious little species. The type specimens in Kirk’s herbarium are 
very imperfect, and in fruit only. Those in Petrie’s herbarium, collected by 
Aston and H. J. Matthews, show both flower and fruit, and have enabled me to 
draw up a more complete description. My own specimens, collected at Hawera 
more than fifteen years ago, have smaller and less divided leaves, but the habit is 
the same, and the achenes exactly match those of the southern plant. Mr. Kirk 
was in error in supposing the species to be alpine. All the specimens I have 
seen have been obtained from sandhills near the sea. 
22. R. Kirkii, Petrie m Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 323, 
and xxxi. 352, t. 25.—Slender, sparingly covered with soft white 
hairs, 3-6in. high. Rootstock stout, with numerous thick fleshy 
roots. Radical leaves on long slender petioles 1-3 in. long; blade 
