Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants
Mountain Buttercups
Mountain Buttercups 139
The largest and best known of these is
Ranunculus lyallii, the so called 'Mount Cook Lily'. It seems that any large herb, especially if it has large, white flowers, as in this case, is inevitably and often erroneously
termed a 'lily'.
Ranunculus lyallii is most admired for its large, pure-white flowers up to 6 cm across (Fig. 99). It is equally remarkable for its large, rather floppy, almost circular leaves up to 30 cm in diameter (Fig. 100). Plants of this species may reach 1 m in height among tussocks or shrubs, particularly in moist places, throughout the South Island mountains, except in the far north, and in Stewart Island. Other smaller, but still large, species have bright buttercup yellow flowers, for example the variable
Ranunculus insignis throughout the axial ranges of the North Island and in the northern half of the South Island and
R. nivicola in the tussock herbfield of Mt. Taranaki (Egmont) and also on the central North Island mountains.
Ranunculus verticillatus, which is also yellow-flowered, is more slender and less conspicuous, but nevertheless common in the southern North Island and northern South Island. It often grows through, and is supported by, shrubs and snow tussocks.
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Figure 99 Flowers of
Ranunculus lyallii at Arthurs Pass, Canterbury.
Photo: J. W. Dawson.
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Figure 100 Group of alpine plants at Arthurs Pass, Canterbury. The large circular leaves are
Ranunculus lyallii. Two mountain daisies are present, C.
semicordata below and
C. armstrongii above. The herb with very divided leaves is
Anisotome haastii and the long silvery leaves at the top belong to
Astelia nervosa. The needle-leaved shrubs are
Dracophyllum longifolium.
Photo: J. W. Dawson.