[ 2 ] 
with some 40 species, Clematis (9 spp.), Myosurus 
(one sp.), and Caltha (2 spp.). 
The question naturally arises: How came the late 
Mr. T. F. Cheeseman to place this plant in the genus 
Ranunculus ? Dr. Sledge in the letter below sheds 
some light on this. He hopes to secure more material 
of this interesting plant, and when it is available, 
we may then be able to determine exactly its system- 
atic position. Joun PARKIN. 
Blaithwaite, 
Wigton, Cumberland, 
May 25. 
I may perhaps supplement Mr. Parkin’s interesting 
observations on Ranunculus tenuicaulis Cheesem. 
This montane species is rare throughout New Zealand 
and of most frequent occurrence in Otago, in which 
province I collected it. Single stations are also given 
in Cheeseman’s ‘‘ Manual of the New Zealand Flora ”’ 
(Ed. 2, p. 442) for Canterbury and Nelson, whilst 
in the North Island the plant has been collected in 
the Tararua Mts. The plant was first collected by 
Cheeseman in 1883 at Arthur’s Pass in the Southern 
Alps of Canterbury, and there are single authentic 
specimens of this gathering in the herbaria_at Kew 
and the British Museum. We are indebted to ttre 
authorities at Kew and the British Museum for 
deseriptions of these plants, both of which are in 
ripe fruit and lack perianth members, as does a second 
specimen at Kew collected by Kirk in the same 
locality a year later. In his original description of 
the species (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 17, 1884) Cheeseman 
writes, ‘‘ Petals not seen’’; and the inadequate refer- 
ences to the flowers in later descriptions in the 
‘‘Manual’’, and particularly the absence of any 
reference to the very unusual and pronounced reddish 
colour of the perianth, would suggest that he never - 
saw the plant in flower. His description of the 
achenes is more complete, and in the second edition 
of the ‘‘Manual’”’ he adds the following note: “A 
very curious species, remarkable for the fusiform 
achenes and long spirally recurved styles”. These 
‘‘remarkable’”’ facts are significant in view of Mr. 
Parkin’s observations and the probable affinity of this 
plant with the genus Anemone. WwW. A. SLEDGE. 
Botany Dept., 
University, Leeds, 
May 25, 
Printed in Great Britain by R. & R CiaRK, Limite, Edinburgh. 
