TJIJ'! AJIT ALBUM OF A/vll' ZEALAND FLORA. 



Hemisphores. It is a vcrv luinute plant, and is well marked l)_v liaviiii^- its seeds aiTanged 

 on a long columnar vccoptacle, so as to produce a curious reseml)lance to a mouse's tail, 

 lionce its name. 



1. MYOSUllUS ARISTATUS {Beiilh.) Tlie Bearded Mousetail. 



Specific Chahacteb. — A herb about 1 in. high ; Leaves I Sepals with a spurred base ; Si aniens, 5 or G. Fruiting torus, 

 l-20th inch, broad; Flowers, minute, greenish, apetalous. | i-.V in. long, erect. — Handbook of yew Zealand Flora, p. 3. 



Description, etc. — This minute plant is a native of the Northern Island ; it is also 

 indigenous to California and the Andes of Chili, where it grows at an elevation of 11,500 

 feet. It is not found in Australia, where the Euro})ean sjiecies takes its place. It is 

 possibly the smallest flowering \Aa.\it in New Zealand. 31. minimus, the best-known 

 European species, rarely attains more than three or four inches in height, and bears a fcAv 

 linear spathulate leaves, and leafless stalks, terminating in a small greenish flower. It 

 groAvs most frequently among corn in a chalky or gravelly soil, but is often overlooked in 

 consequence of its small size. 



GENUS III. 



EANUNCULUS {Linn.) The Crowfoot. 



Generic Chahacter. — Herbs with petioled radical leaves, 

 and yellow, or while, flowers; Sepals. 3-5, concave; Petals, 

 5-20, with 1-3 glands, or scales near the base. Achenes 



numerous, small, with short, .straight, or hooked styles, and 

 one ascending ovule. — Handbook of A'ew Zealand Flora, p. 3. 



Description, etc. — A very large genus in all temjierate countries, rare in troj)ical 

 ones ; many of its members are acrid and jioisonous. Some of the New Zealand are the 

 finest known ; all are very variable, indeed. The plants belonging to this genus are 

 generally found in moist places, and hence they are called " Ranunculus," from rana, 

 a frog. They take their English name of " CroAvfoot " from the shape of the leaves, 

 which are, for the most part, deeply cut, so as to resemble the foot of a bird. The plants 

 of this order in New Zealand not only inhabit the lowlands, but nestle in the snow rills 

 of the Northern and Southern mountain ranges, from 5,000 to 0,000 feet above the sea 

 level. There are about twenty species, very variable in character and form, and about 

 the same number are reckoned to beloui'" to the British Isles. 



