Rumen. | POLYGONACES. 591 
radical, variable in size, 3-12in. long, linear or linear-oblong, 
acute or obtuse, cuneate or truncate or cordate at the base, rarely 
expanded or subhastate; margins flat or waved. Panicle at first 
open, but in an advanced fruiting stage the branches are often 
numerous, spreading and intricate; whorls remote, 4—12-flowered, 
the lower ones leafy; peduncles jointed near the base, curved, 
deflexed. Inner segments of the fruiting-perianth about ~, in. 
long, rhomboid, narrowed into a long acuminate tip, reticulated, 
without tubercles; margins entire or more usually furnished with 
1-4 hooked spines on each side.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 211; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 237. A. Cunninghamii, Metssn. in D.C. Prodr. 
xiv. 62. R. Brownianus, 4. Cunn. Precur. n. 360 (not of Camp.) ; 
Raoul, Choix, 42. 
KermapbeEc Istanps, NortH anp SoutH Isxanps: Abundant throughout. 
Sea-level to 4000 ft. December—March. 
Very closely allied to the Australian R. Brownii, to which it was referred 
by Allan Cunningham, and from which it differs mainly in the more diffusely 
branched habit. 
2. R. neglectus, 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix. (1877) 498. 
—A glabrous perennial herb 2-6in. high; rootstock long, stout, 
often branched above. Leaves rosulate, 1-3 in. long, linear-oblong, 
obtuse, truncate or cuneate at the base, margins crenate-undulate ; 
petiole almost as long as the blade. Flowering-stem short, stout, 
depressed, simple or with 1-2 branches from the base; dense- 
flowered or rarely elongated with the whorls interrupted ; peduncles 
usually deflexed. Flowers hermaphrodite. Fruiting-perianth sub- 
campanulate, about 4in. long, thickened at the base; outer seg- 
ments oblong, obtuse, equalling the tube; inner rather longer, 
lanceolate, acute, with a tubercle on the midrib and lL or 2 short 
teeth on each side.—Oliver in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 1245. RB. cunei- 
folius var. alismeefolius, Hook. f. Hl. Antarct. i. 67. 
Norru Istanp: Pebbly beaches near Wellington, Kirk! SourH Isuanp : 
Canterbury — Armstrong. Otago— Dusky Bay, Buchanan! Port Molyneux, 
Catlin River, the Bluff, Petrie! Srmwart Istanp: Paterson’s Inlet, Petrie ! 
AUCKLAND IsLANps: Sir J. D. Hooker, Kirk ! November—March. 
3. MUEHLENBECKIA, Meissn. 
Large or small shrubs or undershrubs, often climbing, some- 
times prostrate or diffusely spreading. Leaves alternate, petiolate, 
large or small, sometimes wanting; stipules short, loosely sheath- 
ing. Flowers polygamous or diccious, small, whitish, fascicled 
within small sheathing bracts; fascicles axillary or arranged in 
axillary or terminal spikes, racemes, or panicles. Perianth deeply 
5-partite ; segments equal or the outer ones rather larger, often 
becoming white and succulent in fruit. Stamens 8, rarely fewer, 
affixed to the base of the perianth; filaments filiform; anthers 
