Species
Ranunculus pinguis
Etymology
Ranunculus: From the Latin 'rana' frog, meaning little frog and probably refers to the plants typical marshy habit where frogs abound
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 pinguis Hook.f.
Family
Ranunculaceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Native
RANPIN
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
Ranunculus pinguis var. pilosus Hook.f., Ranunculus pinguis var. rhombifolius Hook.f.
Distribution
Endemic. Auckland and Campbell Islands.
Habitat
From sea level to 600 m a.s.l. Growing in damp to flooded ground within grassland and in rocky fell field and moors.
Features
Short, stout and rather fleshy perennial rosette forming herb 50-250 mm high, all parts glabrous or sparsely pilose hairy. Thizome fleshy 7-12 mm diam., bearing many fleshy white roots. Leaves on stout fleshy petioles 20-100 mm long, with very broad, stout, fleshy sheathing bases; lamina 20-80 mm diam., dark green, reniform, deeply lobed, with lobes also crenate. Flowering scape 1-3, usually 1-flowered, unbranched, as long or longer than leaves, stout, naked or with 1-2 small linear bracts above middle. Flowers 20-30 mm diam., sepals 5-6, oblong; petals 6-10, pale yellow, narrow-obovate or linear-oblong, small and stiff, hardly as long as sepals, glossy portion reduced, with single or occasionally multiple nectaries at base; receptacle broadly oblong. Achenes numerous, small, glabrous or with short scattered hairs in upper part of body and lower part of beak; body obovate-oblong or elliptic oblong 1.4-2.0 mm long, pale brown, orange or dark red-brown, beak 1.1-2.0 mm long, straight, bent or curved to ventral side
Similar Taxa
Very distinctive. The only large buttercup found on the Auckland and Campbell Island groups. It appears closest to R. pachyrrhizus and R. viridis. It differs from R. pachyrrhizus by its glabrous to sparsely hairy rather than densely hairy leaves which are shallowly 3-7-lobed and 20-80 mm diam., rather than 1-2-ternatifid and 15-30 mm diam., and by the short, ascending, deeply buried rather long trailing exposed rhizomes. Ranunculus viridis is a much smaller bright green plant confined to the southern end of Stewart island.
Flowering
December - January
Flower Colours
Green,Yellow
Fruiting
February - April
Propagation Technique
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.
Threats
Not Threatened. Listed because it is a narrow range island endemic. It is however, abundant within its known habitats.
Chromosome No.
2n = 48
Endemic Taxon
Yes
Endemic Genus
No
Endemic Family
No
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange (12 February 2007). Description based on Fisher (1965).
References and further reading
Fisher, F.J.F. 1965: The alpine Ranunculi of New Zealand. Bulletin, New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 165: 1-192.
This page last updated on 19 May 2014