File:Plants of New Zealand (1906) (14597663667).jpg

Identifier: plantsofnewzeala1906lain (find matches)
Title: Plants of New Zealand
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Laing, R. M. (Robert Malcolm), b. 1865 Blackwell, E. W. (Ellen W.)
Subjects: Plants
Publisher: Christchurch : Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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lora(The Small-flowered Clematis)—Flowers fewer, leaves smaller and softer than inC. fcetida. Rather local in the North Island, and rare in the South Island.Fl. Oct.-Nov. Genus Ramuiculits. Most of the species of this genus are known as Buttercups. Sepals -3-5.Stamens many. Fruit a head of beaked achenes. .37 sp. Ranunculus Lyallii (LyalVs Banunculus). Stem erect, without runners. Achenes silky. Leaves peltate, flowerswhite. Alpine districts of the South Island. Fl. Jan.-)\Iarch. This stately plant is the finest species of the genus. Theleaves, which are kidney-shaped in the young plants, arecircular and concave in mature specimens, thus forming saucers.In them water often collects, and, as there are deep groovesover the leaf-veins, Diels considers that moisture may beabsorbed at these places, but the matter has not yet been sub-jected to experiment. The plant is known to colonists as theMountain, Shepherds, or Mount Cook Lily. The name is BUTTEECUP, ANEMONE, AND CLEMATIS FAMILY 167
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 48. Clematis parviflora (j nat. size). 1()8 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND most inappropriate, as the plant is not a lily, but a large whitebuttercup. However, any large-leaved herbaceous native plantis called by the colonists a lily, especially if it has whiteflowers. For another instance of the misuse of the name, v.Chatham Island Lily, Myosotidium nohile. Banunculus Lyallii is not unlike the English king-cup inits habit of growth, having the same large, round, fleshyleaves and juicy stems. But the flower of the king-cup isgolden, and that of the Mount Cook Lily is of a pure andwaxy white. This Banunculus grows only in the alpinedistricts of the South Island, and at an altitude of from2,000 to 4000 feet. It may, however, be readily seen onMackinnons Pass, on Arthurs Pass, and near Mount Cook,where it forms dense patches as high up as the Ball Hut onthe edge of the Tasman Glacier. It is one of the mostbeautiful plants in the New Zealand alpine flora—its whiteanemone-like flowers contra

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