i 
; 
Plants of Steppe, Herb- and Fell-Field or related Formations. 187 
miniature, in the axils of which are small umbels on stout, ‚short, branched 
pedicels. Average plants have a diameter of about 86 cm and a height of 
socm. The leaves are yellowish green, 30—60 cm long and so stiff, thick 
and rigid as to be almost motionless in a heavy gale; they are pinnate or 
bi-pinnate with leaflets 6 cm or more long terminating in sharp, stiff, long 
spines. The rootstock is quite short and the plant is firmly anchored by 
means of a very long, 
flexible, rather fleshy, deep- 
ly-descending tap-root. 
The plants are dioecious 
and the inflorescence of 
the staminate plant more 
lax than that of the pis 
tillate. 
Although apparently so 
well equipped against the 
attacks of grazing: animals, 
the species is in danger of 
extinction in many places. 
Formerly veritable thickets 
made travelling, even on 
horseback, impossible over 
certain parts of the mon- 
tane steppe. But at the 
present time sheep eat th 
flower-heads within their 
reach, and, in winter, rabbits 
and hares devour the roots. 
The plant has a natural 
enemy, too, in a certain 
species of beetle. 
oO 
; r. Ranunculus Lyallii in herb-held near source ofR. Rakaia 
The allied A. maxıma at about 1200 m altitude, Southern: Alps, Western distriet. 
hot 
Fig. 5 
is much larger in all its eng 
parts than the above; when 
in flower it is a striking object. It frequently grows in subalpine scrub. A. con- 
spicua occupies a similar station. It is distinguished by its bright orange midrib 
and bracts. 
c. The large-leaved species of Ranunculus. 
There are g species of Ranunculus with large leaves and strikingly hand- 
some flowers, some of which in certain localities occur in sufficient quantity to 
dominate the landscape. 
The famous mountain lily, R. Lyallii, is the most noteworthy (Fig. 51 ; 
Plate XLIV, Fig. 63). It is confined to the Southern botanical province and is 
» 
’ 
common on the wetter western mountains from the S. of the Spenser Mountains 
