Ranunculus.] I. EANUNCULACEAE. 9 



short membranous sheaths ; blade Sin.— 5in. in diameter, with an open sinus, 



broadly reniform, deeply 3— 7-lobed ; primary lobes broadly cuneate. Cauline 



leaves deeply lobed or incised, sessile or shortly petiolate. Flowers lin— lain, in 



diameter, in a lax open panicle. Sepals 5, oblong or linear-oblong, hirsute. 



Petals 10—15, with a gland at the base, emarginate or rounded at the apex, 



yellow. Achenes forming a rounded head, glabrous ; style long, straight, hooked 



at the apex. — Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 8, and Handbk. 5; Raoul, Enum. 47. R. 



reticulatus, Colenso in Trans. N.Z.I, xx. (1887) 188. 



NORTH Island : Mount Bgmont ranges, &o. ; Ngauruhoe, Tongariro, Buapehu, Tauhara, and 

 other mountains in the Taupo district. 2,500ft. to 3,000ft. Nov. to Jaa. 



A striking and beautiful plant, with golden-yellow flowers. I am indebted to Mr. Colenso for 

 the loan of his type-speoimeu of B. reticulatus, which, in the absence of flowers or fruit, offers no 

 character enabling me to distinguish it from B. nivicola, although its author suggests that its nearest 

 ally is B. pinguis, Hook. f. 



7. R. geraniifolius, Hook. /., Fl. N.Z. i. 9, t. 3. Slender, erect, 

 sparingly branched, 9in.— 30in. high, glabrous or more or less villous. Radical 

 leaves on slender petioles 3in.— 9in. long; blade 2in.— Sin. in diameter, broadly 

 reniform, or truncate or cuneate at the base, deeply 3— 5-lobed or ternatisect ; 

 segments crenate or erenate-lobed. Cauline leaves usually sessile, lobed or ter- 

 natisect.' Flowers ^in.— l^in. in diameter, yellow. Sepals oblong, glabrous or 

 sparingly hairy. Petals 10—15, twice as long as the sepals, with a basal gland. 

 Achenes forming a small spherical head, turgid, glabrous ; style short, flexuous. 

 —Handbk. N.Z. PI. 5. 



NORTH Island: Hikurangi, East Cape; Buahine Range, Colenso. Tararua Range, 4r«oM/ 

 Buchanan I SOUTH Island : Marlborough : Mount Stokes, &o., J. Macmahon, T. K. Nelson 

 mountains, not unfrequent, Cheeseman ! &o. 3,000ft. to 5,000ffc. Deo., Jan. 



Less robust than B. nivicola, and varying greatly in the division of the leaves, the degree of 

 hairiness, &c. Fragmentary specimens from Mount Arthur {Bev. F. H. Spencer) and from Mount 

 Owen [Dr. OUze) may be difierent. 



8. R. Monroi, Hook. /., Fl. N.Z. ii. 323. Rootstock short, stout, 

 clothed with the ragged bases of old petioles. Leaves all radical, subcoriaceous 

 or almost fleshy ; petioles 3in.-6in. long or more ; blade rounded-reniform or 

 nearly orbicular or ovate, glabrate or sometimes silky or villous, coarsely 

 crenate or crenate-dentate. Scapes branched, rarely simple ; bracts deeply 

 lobed. Flowers yellow, |in.-liin. in diameter. Sepals linear-oblong, obtuse, 

 glabrous or silky. Petals 5 or more, twice as long as the sepals, with a naked 

 pit at the base. Achenes forming a small rounded head, usually glabrous, 

 turgid, faintly keeled at the back; style long, filiform, straight or recurved. — 

 T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z.I, xxvii. (1894) 349. R. pinguis, a. Hook f., Handbk. 

 N.Z. Fl. 5. R. Muelleri, Buch. in Trans. N.Z.I, xix. (1886) 315, t. 16. 



NORTH Island: Wellington: Tararua Range, BucJianan ! SOUTH Island: Nelson : Wai- 

 rau Mountains, TSrndale, Spencer Mountains, &o. Marlborough : Kaikoura Range. Canterbury : 

 Mount Torlesse, Porter River, mountains above the Broken River Basin, &o. 2,000ft. to 6,300ft. 



Var. sericeus. Achenes clothed with silky hairs. Kaikoura Range, Buchanan! Dec, 

 Jan. 



Var, dentatus. Leaves broadly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, crenate, lobed or dentate ; clothed on 

 both surfaces with strigose ferruginous pubescence. Kaikoura Range ; Mount Torlesse ; Broken 

 River, &c. 



2 



