592 POLYGONACEX. [Muehlenbeckia. 
ovate, in the female flowers’ reduced to short and thick staminodia 
or altogether wanting. Ovary 3-gonous, in the male flowers small 
and rudimentary; styles 3, short; stigmas usually fimbriate. Nut 
obtusely or acutely 3-gonous, enclosed in the usually more or less 
succulent perianth. 
A small genus of about 15 species, found in Australia, New Zealand, the 
Pacific islands, and extra-tropical and Andine South America. Of the four 
species described below, one is found in Australia and another in Norfolk 
Island, the remaining two are endemic. 
Leaves 1-3in., broad-ovate, acuminate, membranous. 
Flowers in much-branched panicles .. st .. 1. M. australis. 
Leaves #-#in., broadly oblong or orbicular. Flowers in 
spikes, rarely panicled be fe .. 2. M. complexa. 
Leaves 7,4 in., ovate-oblong or orbicular. Flowers axil- 
lary, solitary or 2 together .. ap .. 3. MW. axillaris. 
Leaves wanting or if present linear. Male flowers in lax 
spikes; females in few-flowered fascicles 5 .. 4. M. ephedrioides. 
1. M. australis, Meissn. Gen. Comm. 227.—A much-branched 
climber, covering shrubs or small trees, or trailing over cliffs or 
rocks ; trunk stout, woody, sometimes 3 in. diam.; bark greyish; 
branches numerous, flexuous and interlaced, the younger ones 
grooved and angled, glabrous or faintly scaberulous. Leaves petio- 
late, 1-3 in. long, ovate or orbicular-oblong, apiculate or acuminate, 
rarely obtuse, cordate or truncate at the base, thin and membran- 
ous, quite glabrous, usually entire, but sometimes panduriform or 
3-lobed, margins undulate-crisped; petioles 4-lin. long; stipules 
deciduous. Panicles large, axillary and terminal, much branched, 
14-3 in. long or more. Flowers about 4in. diam., greenish, dice- 
cious; males with 8 stamens and the rudiment of an ovary ; females 
with 8 blunt staminodia and a short triquetrous ovary; stigmas. 
broad, fimbriate. Fruiting-perianth closed over the fruit, slightly 
succulent or almost herbaceous. Nut black, shining, 3-angled and 
3-grooved, angles often twisted.—M. adpressa, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. 
Fl. 236 (not of Meissn). Polygonum australe, A. Rich. Fl. Now. 
Zel. 178; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 355; Raoul, Choiz, 42. P. adpres- 
sum, A. Cunn. l.c. un. 356 (not of Labill.). Coccoloba australis, 
Forst. Prodr. n. 176. 
NortH anp SoutH IsLAnps, STEWART ISLAND, CHATHAM ISLANDS: Com- 
mon from the Three Kings Islands and the North Cape southwards. Sea- 
level to 2000 ft. November—April. 
Also found in Norfolk Island, and very closely allied to the Australian 
M. adpressa, Meissn. 
2. M. complexa, Meissn. Gen. Comm. 227.— Forming dense 
thick and elastic prostrate masses many feet in diam., or climbing 
over bushes or rocks. Stems slender, tough and woody, much 
interlaced ; branches very numerous, flexuous, terete, the ultimate 
ones pubescent with short stiff hairs; bark dark red-brown. 
