Ranunculus. | RANUNCULACEAE. | 453 
cuneate at the base, deeply and irregularly toothed. Peduncles axillary, 
stout, erect, shorter than the leaves. Flowers small, +-3in. diam. Sepals 
4-5, ovate, obtuse, membranous. Petals the same number, slightly longer 
than the sepals, obovate-spathulate, with a gland a little below the middle. 
Achenes forming a rounded head 4in. diam., broadly ovate, turgid; style 
short, straight— Schenk in Pflanzengeographie der Subantarklischen Insel 
(1905) 26; Wildeman Voy. “ Belgica” (1905) 26; Cheesem. Subantarct. 
Is. of N.Z. ii (1909) 398. RR. crassipes Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 11 (1847) 
224, t. 81, and Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 168 (1879) 17; 7. Kirk Students’ Fl. 
(1899) 17; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 26. CC. Cece ur. }* oO. 
Macquartm Istanp: Swampy places in the lower part of the island, Dr. Scoit, 
A. Hamilton! H. Hamilion ! 
In the first edition of this work I followed Sir J. D. Hooker in placing the 
Macquarie Island plant in his R. crassipes, which can only be separated from the 
Fuegian R. biternatus by its greater size and less-divided leaves. But these are 
characters of small importance, and in my Report on the Systematic Botany of the 
Islands to the South of New Zealand I adopted Dr. Schenk’s view that the two species 
should be united. The range of R. biternatus will therefore be from Fuegia and the 
Falkland Islands to South Georgia, Kerguelen, Crozets, Marion Island, New Amsterdam, 
and Macquarie Island. 
40. R. Limosella &. Muell. ex Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. 11 (1871) 
177.—Small, slender, perfectly glabrous. Stems filiform, creeping and 
ropting at the nodes, often forming matted patches. Leaves solitary or 
in tufts of 2-3 at the nodes, 4-3 in. long, very narrow-linear, usually dilated 
at the tip and subspathulate, obtuse, nerveless. Peduncles filiform, axillary, 
solitary, much shorter than the leaves. Flowers minute, +in. diam. Sepals 
4, rounded-ovate, membranous. Petals 4, much longer than the sepals, 
narrow-linear, revolute at the tip; gland some little distance above the 
base. Achenes 8-12, rounded, somewhat turgid; style ‘long, slender, 
recurved.—T’. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 19; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 
26. R. limoselloides #’. Muell. ex Hook. f. Ic. Plant. (1867-71) t. 1081 
(not of Turc.). “OS BS GES, 
Nortu Isuanp: Auckland—Lakes in the middle Waikato, 7. Kirk! T. F. C, 
Taranaki— Between Opunake and Normanby, 7. Kirk. Sours Istanp: Canter- 
bury—Swamps and lakes in the middle Waimakariri district, 7. Kirk! J. D. Hnys !< 
T. F.C. Otago—Maniototo Plains, Roxburgh, Petrie / H. W. Bastings / In muddy 
and watery places, often submerged. Altitudinal range from sea-level to 3000 ft. 
December—A pril. 
A very peculiar littl species, readily known by the narrow-linear spathulate 
leaves and minute tetramerous flowers. Sir J. D. Hooker has compared it with the 
Faikland Islands R. hydrophilus, and with R. Moseleyi from Kerguelen Island, so 
far as habit and leaves are concerned. In the flowers and fruit it differs largely from 
both. 
41. R. sessiliflorus A. Br. ex DC. Syst. i (1818) 302.—A small slender 
hairy annual, with sparingly branched suberect or decumbent stems 2-5 in. 
long. Leaves small, radical and cauline, on slender petioles 3-14 in. long ; 
blade thin and membranous, orbicular in outline, 3—5-toothed or -lobed, 
sometimes divided to the base. Flowers very minute, on the branches 
opposite the leaves, sessile or nearly so. Sepals fugacious. Petals 4-5, 
slightly longer than the sepals. Mature achenes 3-6, compressed, margins 
thin, sides covered with minute tubercles ; style very short, hooked at the 
tip.—Hook. f. #l. Tasm. 1 (1860) 9; #l. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 11. RB. parvi- 
florus Linn. var. australis Benth. Fl. Austral. i (1863) 14; Hook. f. Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. (1864) 8; T. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 20. 
