446 RANUNCULACEAE. [ Ranunculus, 
Soutnu Istanp: Canterbury—Mount Dobson and Mount Cook district. 7. F. C. ; 
Lake Ohau, Haast, Buchanan! Otago—Buchanan / Dunstan Mountains, Mounts ida, 
Pisa, Kyeburn, Petrie / Humboldt Mountains, Cockayne/ Stewart Isnanp: Thomsen ! 
Altitudinal range 2500-5000 ft., but descending almost to sea-level in Stewart Island. 
December—January. 
An exceedingly variable species, only to be distinguished from A. Sinclarii by the 
narrower outline of the leaves, the more numerous shorter pinnae, which are usually 
much less divided, and in small specimens often nearly entire, and by the broader 
ultimate segments. Many specimens are quite intermediate, and might be referred to 
either species. 
24. R. Urvilleanus Cheesem. n. sp.—Tall, slender, branched at the base, 
9-3 {t. high; stems and leaves more or less covered with soft spreading 
white hairs. Radical leaves numerous, on slender petioles often over a 
foot in length. Blade 1-3in. long or more, tritoliolate or 3-ternately 
divided, not palmate-partite. Central segment conspicuously stalked, and 
the whole of the segments cut into numerous acute divisions. Cauline 
leaves on shorter petioles, and their divisions on less evident stalks. 
Flowering stem branched above, bearing several rather small bright-yellow 
flowers }in. diam. Sepals 4 or 5, shorter than the petals, reflexed, silky 
externally. Petals 5, oblong, obtuse, a single glandular pit at the base. 
Achenes forming a rounded head, glabrous, compressed, margined ; style 
rather long, strongly curved.—R. hirtus var. elongatus Cheesem. Man, N.Z. 
=? 
FI. (1906) 19. 
Norts Istanp: North Cape Peninsula, not uncommon in marshy places, 7. F. C., 
H. Carse! low grounds by Whangaroa Harbour, 7’. #. C. ; Bay of Islands, abundant 
on the shores, D’Urville (1828); Little Barrier Island, 7’. F. C. 
This differs from any of the forms of A. hirtus in the much greater size, more 
slender habit, more compressed achenes, with much more curved styles. It is doubt- 
less the plant collected by D’Urville on the shores of the Bay of Islands in 1828, and 
referred by A, Richard to the northern R. acris (“Floré de la Nouvelle-Zélande,” 289). 
But R. acris is at once distinguished by the palmate-partite or digitate leaves, and 
there can be no question of the distinctness of the two species. 
25. R. hirtus Banks and Sol. ex Forst. f. Prodr. eens. 525.—Stout 
or slender, erect or rarely decumbent, more or less branched, 6-24 in. high, 
usually clothed with soft spreading or rarely appressed hairs. Radical 
leaves numerous, on petioles 1-3 in. long, 3-foliolate ; leaflets usually stalked, 
oblong to broadly ovate, rounded or cuneate at the base, coarsely and 
irregularly toothed or 3-5-lobed, or again 3-partite. Flowering stems 
usually branched, with several cauline leaves, the lower of which are similar 
to the radical, the upper smaller, more sessile, and less cut or entire. 
Flowers small, seldom more than din. diam. Sepals 5, oblong; reflexed, 
fugacious, shorter than the petals. Petals 5, obovate, with a single gland 
near the base. Achenes forming a small rounded head, glabrous, com- 
pressed, margined ; style short, hooked.—A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) n. 634; 
Raoul Choi (1846) 47; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 9; LT. Kirk Students’ 
Fl, (1899) 14; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 18. R. plebeius R. Br. ea 
DC. Syst. Veg. i (1818) 288; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 7; Benth. 
Fl. Austral. 1 (1863) 18. 
__ Var. gracilis Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 19.—Slender, erect or suberect, 
6-10 in. high, sparingly covered with silky appressed hairs. Leaves 3-foliolate ; leafiets 
often long-stalked, ovate-cuneate, irregularly and sparingly toothed or lobed. Flowers 
large, j—i in. diam. Achenes larger, with a longer style. Mountain districts of the 
South Isiand, 3000-4500 ft. 
