4354 RANUNCULACEAK. [A yosurus. 
2. MYOSURUS Linn. 
Annual herbs, of small size. Leaves all radical, linear, entire. Scapes 
usually numerous, naked, 1-flowered. Sepals 5, rarely more, minutely 
spurred at the base. Petals wanting in the New Zealand species. Stamens 
5-8. Carpels numerous; ovules solitary, pendulous. Achenes closely 
packed on a long and slender spike-like receptacle which usually lengthens 
much as they ripen, each with a raised nerve on the back, ending in a short 
persistent style. 
A small genus of only two species, one of which is widely spread in the North 
Temperate Zone, and is also found in Australia; the other is known only from California, 
Chile, and New Zealand. ) | ore 
1. M. aristatus Benth. in Lond. Journ. Bot. vi (1847) 459.—Varying 
in size from 1-3in. Leaves numerous, g51n. broad or even less, 
erect, linear or linear-spathulate. Scapes usually several, slender, 1- 
flowered. Flower minute, yellowish, apetalous. Sepals 5, spur short. 
Stamens generally 5. Receptacle in fruit oblong or lmear, 4-7 1n. Jong ; 
achenes with a short beak.—AHook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 8; Handb. N.Z. 
Fi. (1864) 3; 7. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 5; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 
(1906) 6. 
Nort Istanp: Palliser Bay, Colenso/ Ocean Beach near Wellington, Buchanan. 
Sourn IstaNnD: Moist gravelly places near Lake Tekapo, 7’. F. C. Otago—Hyde, 
Beaumont, Speargrass Flat, Ida Valley, Lake Wanaka, Petrie! Gimmerburn, 7. 
Kirk ! Altitudinal range from sea-level to 2500 ft. 
Of late years much attention has been given to the genus Myosurus, especially 
by American botanists, and several new species have been described. The Californian 
plant formerly included in M. aristatus by Bentham has long ago been separated, and 
erave doubts have been expressed as to the identity of the New Zealand plant with 
the Chilian J. aristatus. I suspect that the two are specifically distinct, but defer 
publication of a new name until more definite information has been received. 
~- Aare Renew Nn. T. 
3. RANUNCULUS Linn. (768 » Ad 219! LAD, rau 
Herbs with petioled entire lobed or dissected leaves and yellow or 
white flowers. Sepals 3-5, deciduous. Petals usually about 5, but vary- 
ing in number from 4 to 20, with 1-3 glandular pits or scales near the 
base. Stamens many. Carpels usually numerous; styles short; ovules 
solitary, ascending. Achenes numerous, l-seeded, collected into a olobular 
or ovoid head tipped with the persistent straight or recurved style. 
A large genus of probably quite 300 species, dispersed over the whole world, but 
most numerous in temperate or cool regions. In New Zealand it forms a very 
conspicuous portion of the mountain vegetation, especially in the South Island ; 
some of the species, as R. Lyallit and R. insignis, being the finest known. Many of 
them are variable and difficult of discrimination, especially in the section with com- 
pressed achenes. Of the 40 species admitted in this work, 4 are found in Australia, 
t in Chile, while another ranges from Fuegia and Falkland Islands to South Georgia, 
Kerguelen Island and its satellites to Macquarie Island, the remaining 34 being 
endemic. In addition to the native species, at least 10 or 11 from the Northern 
Hemisphere have become naturalized as weeds in pastures and waste places, the 
most abundant being R. bulbosus L., R. sardous Crantz, and R. repens L. References 
to descriptions of these will be found in the Appendix. 
A. Stems tall, erect. Flowers large. Achenes villous or silky. 
* Flowers white. 
Leaves large, peltate, margins simply crenate +s .. Ll. RB. Lyallir. 
Leaves reniform in outline, coarsely ternatisect, 3-6in. diam. .. 2. R. Matthewsii. 
Leaves 3-5-partite or dissected ; segments usually linear 3. R. Buchanani. 
