Ranunculus pinguis
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Green, Yellow
Detailed description
Short, stout and rather fleshy perennial rosette forming herb 50–250 mm high, all parts glabrous or sparsely pilose hairy. Rhizome 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 diameter; 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 Islands and Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku. It appears closest to Ranunculus 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 diameter, rather than 1–2-ternatifid and 15–30 mm diameter, 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/Rakiura.
Distribution
Endemic. Auckland Islands and Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku.
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.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
Threats
Not Threatened. Listed because it is a narrow range island endemic. It is however, abundant within its known habitats.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ranunculaceae
Synonyms
Ranunculus pinguis var. pilosus Hook.f., Ranunculus pinguis var. rhombifolius Hook.f.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December–January
Fruiting
February–April
Propagation technique
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Etymology
ranunculus: From the Latin ‘rana’ frog, meaning little frog and probably refers to the plants typical marshy habit where frogs abound
NVS code
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.
RANPIN
Chromosome number
2n = 48
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Fisher FJF. 1965. The alpine Ranunculi of New Zealand. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 165: 1–192.
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange (12 February 2007). Description based on Fisher (1965).
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Ranunculus pinguis Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/ranunculus-pinguis/ (Date website was queried)