KEY POINTS:
A rare and particularly beautiful species of mountain flower has been identified in Otago.
The alpine buttercup Ranunculus acraeus grows on boulder fields above 1500m, mostly in Waitaki Valley in the North Otago mountains.
The buttercup was first collected by scientists in the 1940s, and was thought to be a subspecies of R haastii, a similar plant found in the same area.
But Landcare Research botanist Peter Heenan recognised the striking plant was an entirely separate, unnamed species, after studying its DNA sequence data.
Dr Heenan said R acraeus was also better-looking than R haastii, because it had more flowers.
"(The flowers) sit on top of the plant, so they're quite showy. The plant has grey foliage and it can form broad patches up to half a metre, so if you imagine a plant that diameter covered in yellow flowers, it's quite attractive."
Dr Heenan named the plant acraeus - which means "on high" - in reference to its alpine habitat.
He had not considered naming it after himself, which would have been bad form.
"You try to use a characteristic of the plant, and then maybe its location.
"If you're really struggling for a name, you could name it after someone, but you'd never do it after yourself."
- NZPA
