Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/57

Ranunuculus.] 17. R. sericophyllus, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 6.—A handsome short stout pale-green plant 2–8 in. high, usually densely covered with long silky hairs, but sometimes nearly glabrous. Rootstock short, stout. Leaves numerous, somewhat membranous, all radical; petioles short or long, 1–5 m., with very broad membranous sheathing bases; blade ½–1½ in. long, broadly ovate in outline, tripinnatisect, ultmiate divisions small, linear or linear-oblong, acute or nearly so, generally tipped with a pencil of silky hairs. Scape usually longer than the leaves, stout, erect, 1-flowered, naked or with an entire or laciniate bract. Flowers large, golden-yellow, 1–1½ in. diam. or even more. Sepals oblong, membranous, almost equalling the petals. Petals 5–8, usually broad, obovate-cuneate, rounded at the tip; glands generally 3, near the base. Achenes forming a rounded head 1½ in. diam., glabrous, turgid, keeled at the back ; style stout, subulate.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 12.

18. R. Sinclairii, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 6.—Small, slender, 2–6 in. high, sparingly pilose with long white silky hairs or almost glabrous. Rootstock stout, sometimes branched above. Leaves many, all radical, 1–4 in. long, usually soft and flaccid; petioles short, sheathing at the base; blade 1–2 in. long, ovate-oblong to linear-oblong in outline, bipinnatisect or multifid; primary pinnæ 2–4 pairs, opposite, often rather distant, very variable in the amount of cutting, ultimate segments narrow-linear, rarely oblong, short, acute. Scape slender, naked, 1-flowered, much longer than the leaves. Flowers small, ½ in. diam. Sepals 5. Petals 5, nearly twice as long as the sepals, linear-obovate, with a single gland near the base. Achenes few, forming a small rounded head, turgid, glabrous; style short, straight, subulate.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 11.

19. R. gracilipes, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 8.—Small, slender, pilose or villous with long soft hairs, especially on the petioles and