454 RANUNCULACEAE. [ Ranunculus. 
Norra IstAnp: Shaded places on lava-streams, Auckland Isthmus, Mount Well- 
ington and Mount Eden, &c., once very plentiful, but now becoming rare. _ Originally 
discovered by Mr. Colenso. Tiritiri Island, A. Hansen / Septem ber-November. 
A common Australian plant, and possibly introduced from thence in the very 
early days of the Dominion. It is very closely allied to the northern R. parviflorus, 
which is now copiously naturalized in cultivated fields and waste places throughout 
the Dominion. But R. sessiliflorus is a much smaller and more delicate plant, with 
thinner and less hairy leaves, and the flowers and fruit are much smaller. 
4. CALTHA Linn. 1739. 
Glabrous tufted perennial! herbs; rootstock creeping. Leaves all or 
chiefly radical, oblong, ovate or rounded, cordate at the base or 2-lobed 
with the lobes turned upwards. Scape 1- or few-flowered. Sepals 5 or 
more, petaloid, usually deciduous. Petals wanting. Stamens numerous, 
Carpels several, sessile ; ovules several or many, attached in 2 series to the 
ventral suture. Follicles 6 or more in a head, spreading, several- or many- 
seeded, opening along the inner face. “To h-t. St SOu 
A small genus of 15-18 species, found in the temperate regions of both hemispheres. 
The southern species belong to the section Psychrophila, distinguished by the turned-up 
basal lobes or auricles of the leaves. Both the New Zealand species are endemic, 
although allied to the Australian and Tasmanian OQ. introloba and C, phyllopoda., 
Leaves entire or sinuate. Flowers yellow. Sepals linear-subu- 
late, tapering from the base into almost caudate points .. 1.0. novae-zealandiae. 
Leaves dentate. Flowers white. Sepals oblong, obtuse or sub- 
acute, broadest above the middle 2% mp vs. 2s O. obtuse, 
Mr. A. W. Hill’s “ Genus Caltha in the Southern Hemisphere ” (Annals of Botany, 
July, 1918) gives an excellent account of the structure and morphology of the curious 
upturned lobes of the leaves of the southern species of the genus, anda should be 
consulted by ail workers in the genus. Text-figures are given of the leaves of the 4 
Australian and New Zealand species. 
1. C. novae-zelandiae Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 12, t. 6.— 
A perfectly glabrous perennial 1-6in. high. Rootstock stout, with Heshy 
rootlets. Leaves all radical, spreading ; petiole variable in length, 3-4 in., 
erooved, base dilated, membranous, sheathing the stem ; lamina $1 in. 
long, ovate-oblong, entire or faintly sinuate, notched at the apex, deeply 
2-lobed at the base, the lobes turned upwards, and almost appressed to 
the surface of the leaf, reaching nearly half-way up it. Scape solitary, 
naked, 1-flowered, $5 in. long, short at first, but lengthening as the fruit 
ripens. Flowers pale- yellow, sweet-scented, 4-lin. diam. Sepals 5-7, 
narrow, linear-subulate, tapering from the base into an almost caudate 
point, 3-nerved. Stamens 15-20. Carpels 6-12, ovate, narrowed into 
a short stout style; seeds few, 2-5.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 9; 7. Kak 
Students’ Fl, (1899) 21; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 28. C. marginata 
Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii (1891) 382. 
NortH Isnanp: Kaimanawa Mountains, B. C. Aston/ Ruahine Mountains, 
Colenso and many others; Tararua Mountains, Buchanan, W. Townson! Mount 
Hector, Petrie. Sourn Isnanp, Stewart Istanp: Abundant on the mountains 
irom Cook Strait southwards, Altitudinal range from 2500 to 6000 ft., but descends 
to sea-level in Stewart Island. 
Closely allied to the Australian C. introloba, but the upturned lobules of the leaves 
are longer and narrower in that plant, and the flowers are said to be white. 
