244 The Plant Formations of the High Mountains. 
The giant buttercups lighting up a hillside with their white or yellow 
blossoms are both of extreme physiognomic importance and beauty. Ranun- 
culus Lyallii is the most striking and wide-spread occurring, as it does, from 
the Spenser Mts to Stewart Island; it is particularly plentiful in the Western 
district. The great glossy, green peltate leaves spreading horizontally, raised 
on stout stalks 30—45 cm high, cut off the light from the ground and forbid 
other plants to gain a footing, this being also assisted by the broad, half- 
buried, thick rhizomes paving the substratum. In the North-western district, 
R. insignis occupies a similar station, and in the Fiord district R. Buchanani 
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Fig. 81. Celmisia coriacea var. stricta ;fell-held, Takitimu Mts., South Otago distriet. Photo L. Cockayne. 
makes wide colonies, but usually only at a higher altitude and on more stony 
ground, a happening in accord with its more xerophytic structure. 
Astelia montana and A. Petriei are common in many places. The latter 
with its shorter, more rigid, glossy leaf ascends to the alpine belt and com- 
pletely fills snow- patch hollows. 
The three large species of Ourisia, O. macrocarpa var. calycina (Western 
district), O. macrophylla (Northern part of South Island) and ©. macrocarpa 
var. cordata (Fiord district) are in places as striking almost as the buttercups- 
The fern-like tufted leaves of Anisotome Haastii are a feature in herb-field 
generally. Various moderately tall species of Aciphylla are of moment at 
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