1 



r^L 



AlckemiUa.] ^ xli. iiosACE.f:. 433 



of N. and S. America and Africa, and is also found iu New Zealand ; but in the latter 

 country, and in some, if not all, the Australian stations, very probably introduced from 

 Europe. 



7. AC-aiNA, Linn. 



(Ancistrum, Forst.) 



Calyx-tube ovoid or campanulate ; lobes usually 4 or 5, but varying from 



3 to 7, valvate. Petals none. Stamens 2 to 10. Carpels 1 or rarely 2, 



enclosed in the calyx-tube, with 1 pendulous ovule in each ; style terminal or 



nearly so, protruding from the calyx-tube, usually dilated into an oblique 



fringed stigma. Achene solitary, dry, enclosed in the hardened tube of the 



calyx, which is usually closed at the top and more or less awucd with subulate 



or conical spines, often glocliidiate at the end. — Herbs, "with a perennial tufted 



stock. Leaves radical or alternate, pinnate, with toothed or cut leaflets. 



Stipules sheathing at the base. Flowers hermaphrodite or polygamous, 



small, green or pui-plish, in a terminal globular head, or in an elongated or 



interrupted spike, the flowering-stem either leafy or reduced to a leafless 

 scape, 



. The genus is dispersed over the temperate and colder regions of the southern hemisphere ; 

 it is especially abundant iu S. America, and occurs also in California, Mexico, and the Sand- 

 ^ch Islands. Of the three Australian species, two are apparently also natives of S. Ame- 

 rica and New Zealand, the third is probably endcraic. 



The genus has beeu divided into two sections, Euacana, with the fruiting calyx niore or 

 less angular, the spines, when present, one only to each angle ; and Ancisirum, with the 

 ^yi ovoid, irregularly covered with numerous spines or tubercles. In the former the 

 flowers are usually capitate, but spicate in a few species, in the latter they are spicate in most 

 jl not all species. There are a few species however, (not Australian,) with the spines not 

 developed, and ambiguous between the two sections. 

 ^Pjle cylindrical or elongated and interrupted. Stamens 4 to 10. 



Spines of the fruiting calyx numerous, irregularly scattered ... 1. -/. ovina. 

 neads globular. Stamens 2. Spines of the fruiting calyx 4, 1 to each 

 angle. 



Calyx-lobes united at the base, nsuallv persistent. Truitigg head 

 above J in. diameter, with long glochidiate spines 2. ^. sanfjuisorha. 



Calyx-lobes separately deciduous. Truitins: heads not \ in. diameter, 

 with very short fine spines , . , . -^ . ^,A,montaua. 



l.A. 



ovina 



Wale%. 358. Stems ascending or 



^[ect, leafy, 1 to 2 ft. high, si%.hairy. Leaflets ovate, from orbicular to 

 7°ng. i'to f in. long, deeply and obtusely crenate or pinnatifid, glabrous 

 Jbove, silky-hairy underneath. Flowers in a long interrupted spike, more dense 



jo^ards the end, polygamous. Calyx-lobes usually 5, rarely 4, 6, or 7. 

 f -aniens in the males 'either about as many or 8 to 10, in the females reduced 

 J ttiinute staminodia, or 1 or 2 of them filiform, without anthers. Ovary in 

 "»e females with a single or rarely 2 ovules ; style obliquely ddated at the 

 H ftith a broad unilateral fringed stigma. Fruit ovoid, 2 to 3 lines long 

 S'abrous or loosely yiUous covered with short prickles, barbed at the end and 



irrp 



with a 



fnical base.— Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 115 ; J. echinata, Nees m Pl;^Preiss. 

 •95; A.Behriana, Schlecht. Linnfea, sx. 660 (calyx often 6- or T-lobed, 

 ^^ttiens often 10). 



Q'eenslaud. Near Warwick, jB#cW«-. „ 



VOL. H. 2 F 



