Ranunculus .] 
I. RANUNCULACEjE. 
9 
— j R. sessilijlorus, Br. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 11. Slender, hairy, annual. Stem pro- 
strate or rarely erect, branching, 1-12 in. long. Leaves few radical and 
many cauline, alternate, small, 3— | in. diam., orbicular, 3-5-lobed, the 
lobes entire or variously cut, on short slender petioles. Flowers very small, 
on the branches opposite the leaves, solitary, almost or quite sessile." Sepals 
fugacious. Petals 5, about as long as the sepals. Achenes few, in a small 
globular head, compressed with thin edges, pilose, the sides covered with 
minute tubercles or hooks ; style short, hooked. 
Northern Island, Colenso (perhaps introduced). Common in temperate Australia. 
The typical R. parvijtorus is a S. European plant. 
4. CALTHA, Linn. 
Glabrous, tufted herbs, with most or all of the leaves radical, and 1 -flowered 
scapes. — Sepals 5 or more, petaloid, imbricate. Petals 0. Stamens numerous. 
Carpels several, with many ovules in two rows on the ventral suture. Fol- 
licles splitting along the inner face, several-seeded. 
A small genus, found in the temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres. 
1. C. novae-Zelandise, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 12. t. 6. Short, stout, 
tufted, glabrous, perennial, with a thick rootstock, numerous radical leaves, 
and short, thick, 1-flowered scape. Leaves spreading ; blade ovate-oblong, 
notched at the apex, deeply cordate and auricled at the base, with the obtuse 
auricles turned up and appressed to the surface of the leaf ; petioles 1-6 in., 
dilated at the base into large membranous sheaths. Flowers 1-2 in. diam. 
Sepals 5-7, linear-subulate. Stamens short, very numerous. Carpels 5-7, 
broadly ovate, gibbous ; style short, hooked. 
Northern Island : top of the Ruahine mountains, Colenso. Middle Island ; Mount 
Brewster and Hopkins river, alt. 5-6000 ft., Haast ; Otago, alpine districts, alt. 4-6000 ft., 
Hector and Buchanan. The C. introloba, F. Muell., of Tasmania and Victoria (a plant not 
discovered when this was published) is very closely allied to this, differing chiefly in the re- 
curved styles. 
Order II. MAGNOLIACEiE. 
Tribe Wintered. 
Aromatic shrubs or trees, with alternate, exstipulate leaves. — Sepals and 
petals imbricated in 2, 3, or many series, very deciduous. Stamens numerous ; 
hypogynous. Filaments often thick or dilated ; anthers adnate. Carpels 
few, in 1 series, with 2 or more ovules attached to the ventral suture. 
Stigma sessile and terminal or decurrent along the suture. Ripe carpels of 
free, small drupes follicles or berries. Seeds few ; testa shining ; albumen 
copious, fleshy ; embryo small. 
This description refers only to the tribe IVinterea, which alone is represented in 
N. Zealand. This Order contains many genera, in some of which the carpels are very 
numerous and spiked, in others combined, and in some the flowers are unisexual ; it abounds in 
the southern United States, and the mountainous regions of India and Eastern Asia; its 
qualities are aromatic. The genus Brimys contains one S. American, two Australian, one 
alpine Bornean, and probably several New Caledonian species. 
