102 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
‘“Hyes . . - Blue as the blue forget-me-not,” sings Tennyson, 
and the more prosaic modiste calls a certain silk “ forget-me-not ” 
blue. And yet New Zealand’s forget-me-nots behave with the 
mythical antipodean topsy-turviness, and frequently produce not 
blue but yellow flowers! Some of the yellow forget-me-nots that 
have their home in dim river-gorges or on wet shady rocks are of 
large size, and one, the bronze forget-me-not (Myosotis macrantha), 
is bronze-coloured rather than yellow. Other beautiful forget-me- 
nots are the yellow forget-me-not (M. australis), M. Goyeni (a rock- 
plant), and the rock forget-me-not (JM. saxatilis), discovered only 
a year or two ago in subalpine Marlborough. In similar situations 
may grow the pretty little Veronica linifolia (fig. 61). 
Of all the plants the buttercups most deserve mention. Of these 
there are quite a number, and they are far and away the finest 
buttercups on earth. The mountain-lily (Ranunculus Lyalliz) is their 
queen (fig. 1). This world-famed plant.raises great leaves from its 
very thick rootstock, each with a blade shaped like a saucer, some- 
times more than 9 inches in diameter, and a stout stalk a foot or 
more in height, inserted in the middle of the blade, and lifting it 
high from the ground. The smaller R. Bawrii, of South Africa, 
has the same leaf-form, and, under certain circumstances, the New 
Zealand Kaikoura buttercup (R. lobulatus) produces leaves of this 
kind. In late November, December, and early January R. Lyalliv 
puts forth a very tall stem, which, branching, bears numbers of 
blossoms of snowy whiteness, there being frequently more than 
thirty close together, each as big as a five-shilling piece. To behold 
this noble plant, an acre at a time in full bloom, is to a lover 
of beautiful flowers the sight of a lifetime. The yellow alpine 
buttercup (Ranunculus Godleyanus), found near the source of the 
Rakaia and farther south, is nearly as striking, and so also is the 
hairy alpine buttercup (R. insignis) of the North Island and some 
of the Nelson mountains. The white cut-leaved alpine buttercup 
(R. Buchanan) of the Otago mountains is splendid also; and men- 
tion must be made of the more recently named R. Matthewsw 
(probably a hybrid between R. Lyalliai and Rk. Buchanani), which 
worthily bears the name of its energetic discoverer. The golden- 
yellow Mount Egmont buttercup (R. nivicola) is one of the features 
of that mountain, and is very plentiful also on the upper slopes of 
Tongariro. R. lobulatus, a plant of easy culture and of large size, 
