DSC_6674 Scree buttercup (Ranunculus acraeus) a nationally endangered 'mountain buttercup' found high on the greywacke screes of South Canterbury and North Otago, sometimes alongside (Ranunculus haastii). St Mary's Range *
DSC_6664 Scree buttercup (Ranunculus acraeus) a nationally endangered 'mountain buttercup' found high on the greywacke screes of South Canterbury and North Otago, sometimes alongside (Ranunculus haastii). St Mary's Range *
11009-09501 Castle Hill buttercup, or kura tawhiti (Ranunculus paucifolius) a critically endangered buttercup, in flower in the spring. Fewer than seventy plants remain in the wild, with some individuals now over a hundred years old. Last summer, only 28 of these plants flowered. Only 11 produced seed, and only one in 10 seeds usually germinates. The seedlings take from 13 months to four years to appear above ground. Surviving plants are all confined to a 6.4-hectare Nature Reserve near Castle Hill *