sometimes linear-spathulate and entire, but usually 3-foliolate; leaflets stalked, rounded-ovate, entire or 3-lobed, coriaceous. Scapes several, simple or branched, 3–5 in. high; cauline leaves or bracts few, spathulate. Flowers small. Sepals 5, oblong-lanceolate. Petals 5, linear-oblong, rounded at the tip, clawed at the base, with a gland just above the claw. Achenes few, slightly compressed, keeled; style subulate, hooked at the tip.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 15 (in part only).
Stewart Island: Swamps at Paterson's Inlet, &c., Petrie! G. M. Thomson! Kirk!
More specimens of this species are required to fully determine its systematic position and relationships. I have confined it to the Stewart Island plant, for the specimens from the mountains of the South Island, included by Mr. Kirk, differ in several characters of importance, and are better reserved for further inquiry. The figure given in the Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. xxxi., is not characteristic of any specimens I have seen.
23. R. lappaceus, Smith in Rees' Cyclop. xxix. n. 61.—Short, stemless, more or less hairy or villous, 2-10 in. high. Rootstock short, stout, sometimes branched at the top. Leaves numerous, usually all radical, on petioles ½–3 in. long; blade ¼–1½ in. diam., cuneate or ovate or rounded in outline, sometimes entire or coarsely toothed, but more frequently 3–5-lobed or -partite, less commonly 3-foliolate or pinnately divided; lobes or segments generally toothed or crenate. Scapes 1 to many, usually leafless and 1-flowered, 1–9 in. high, generally much longer than the leaves, densely clothed with spreading or appressed hairs. Flowers very variable in size, often a rich golden-yellow. Sepals 5, pilose, spreading. Petals 5, obovate; gland at the base. Achenes forming a small rounded head, compressed or rarely slightly turgid, glabrous, margined; style short, recurved.—Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 6; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 7; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 12; Kirk, Students Fl. 15.
Var. multiscapus, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 7.—Petioles shorter, ¼–1½ in. long; blade smaller, ¼–¾ in. diam., ovate or rounded, cuneate at the base, toothed or 3-lobed or 3-partite. Scapes numerous.—R. multiscapus. Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 9, t. 5. R. muricatulus, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 381 (still smaller, with the leaves occasionally entire).
Var. pimpinellifolius, Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 12.—Leaves usually pinnate, with 5 short and broad 3–5 lobed segments.—R. pimpinellifolius. Hook. Journ. Bot. i. 243; Ic. Plant. t. 260.
Var. villosus, Kirk, Students' Fl. 15.—1–3 in. high, densely villous or silky in all its parts. Scape usually shorter than the leaves. Achenes slightly turgid.
North, South, and Stewart Islands: The var. multiscapus abundant from Hawke's Bay and Taupo southwards, and ranging from sea-level to 4500 ft. November–March. The remaining varieties not uncommon in mountain districts in the South Island.
