Species

Ranunculus kirkii

Etymology

Ranunculus: From the Latin 'rana' frog, meaning little frog and probably refers to the plants typical marshy habit where frogs abound
kirkii: after Thomas Kirk (18 January 1828 - 8 March 1898), a NZ botanist and lecturer in natural sciences and regarded as a leader of botanical enquiry in NZ for over three decades. One of his most significant publications was Forest flora of NZ (1889) but he also contributed over 130 papers to the Transactions and Proceedings of the NZ Institute and other journals.

Common Name(s)

None Known

Current Conservation Status

2012 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon
2004 - Range Restricted

Qualifiers

2012 - RR

Authority

Ranunculus kirkii Petrie

Family

Ranunculaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

RANKIR

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

None

Distribution

Endemic. Stewart Island.

Habitat

Lowland to alpine in damp ground amongst scrub and tussock grassland.

Features

Non rhizomatous, tufted perennial herb up to 250 mm tall. Roots numerous, fleshy. Leaves mainly in a loose rosette, ternate; leaflets petiolules short, 5-25 mm diameter, divided to about 1/2 or more into 3 crenate or bluntly toothed lobes, hairy or glabrescent. Flowers 1-3 per stem, 8-18 mm diameter; pedicels conspicuous, covered within long appressed, sericeous hairs. Sepals spreading, sericeous hairy. petals 5, 2-4 x 0.9-1.2 mm, yellow, narrowly obovate; nectary single, 2 mm from petal base, covered by a small roudned scale. Receptacle hairy. Achenes 10-15, 2.5-3.4 mm long, flattened, glaborous, with a broad body; beak straight or curved, 0.5-1 mm long.

Similar Taxa

Recognised by the 1-ternate leaves with ternatifid stalked (petiolules) leaflets. Morphologically perhaps closest to R. brevis which differs by its 2-ternatifid leaves with linear to linear-lanceolate lobes.

Flowering

October - February

Flower Colours

Yellow

Fruiting

December - May

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.

Threats

Not threatened. Listed only because it is a narrow-range endemic.

Chromosome No.

2n = 48

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

 

     

This page last updated on 14 Jan 2014