Haloragez. | FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 65 
forms, long and linear in submerged parts, generally more or less spathulate, }-1 inch long, very membranous, guite 
entire, narrowed into a petiole, three-nerved. The plant I have called var. Bis quite similar, but the leaves are shorter 
and rounder, more distinctly petiolate ; the female flower is seated on a short pedicel, which also bears a solitary stamen. 
If this indicates a bisexual flower, it follows that the ovary is really superior, and is not enveloped like Myriophyllum 
in the tube of the calyx; but I rather regard this variety as bearing in the axil of the leaf two flowers, a female, and 
a male consisting of a single stamen. 
Gen. IV. GUNNERA, ZL. 
Flores uni-bi-sexuales, bracteolati. Calycis tubus ovario adherens, tereti v. angulato; limbo 2-3- 
lobo. Petala 2, v. 0, calycis lobis alterna, concava, decidua. . Stamina 2, petalis opposita; antheris 2-lo- 
cularibus, rimis lateralibus dehiscentibus. Ovarium 1-loculare, l-ovulatum ; stylis 2, elongatis, simplicibus, 
staminibus oppositis. Fructus drupaceus, indehiscens; endocarpio osseo. Semen solitarium, pendulum, 
loculum implens; testa membranacea; albumine dense carnoso, oleoso; embryone minimo, cordato, hilo 
proxima; radicula brevi, obtusa, supera. 
Herbaceous, moncecious and dicecious, or hermaphrodite plants, with an underground rhizoma or with creeping 
scions, alternate, petiolate radical leaves, sometimes with erect, leafy scapes, and spiked or racemose, uni-bi-sexual, 
small, green, bracteated flowers. Calyx tube adherent with the ovarium; limb two- to three-toothed or lobed. 
Petals two or absent, alternating with the calyx teeth, deciduous. Stamens two, opposite the petals. Anthers innate, 
two-celled, bursting laterally. Ovary one-celled, with one pendulous ovule, and two long, simple, often recurved 
styles opposite the stamens. Frust a small (usually red) drupe, with one pendulous albuminous seed filling the 
cavity ; testa membranous; albumen dense, fleshy; embryo very minute, broadly heart-shaped, two-lobed, placed at 
the upper end of the seed; radicle next the hilum*.— This is almost wholly a southern genus, ranging from Java in 
the Old World, and Peru in the New, to the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Tahiti. 
The acid leaves of a great South American species are used as food, and taste like rhubarb. (Named in honour of 
John Ernest Gunner, a learned Swedish bishop and botanist.) 
1. Gunnera monoica, Raoul; parce pilosa v. glabrata, caule repente v. stolonifero, foliis cordato- v. 
reniformi-rotundatis obscure 4-lobis insequaliter crenato-dentatis, racemis folio subeeguilongis parce ra- 
mosis, floribus paniculatis racemosisve inferioribus ? , calycis lobis acuminatis, bracteolis petalisque ciliato- 
laceris, filamentis elongatis, drupis obeonicis carnosis. Raoul, Choi de Plantes, v. 15. 4.9. G. prorepens, 
Pl. Antarct. v. 9. p. 274 (in not.). 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands; common in wet places. Bay of Islands, Cunningham, etc. ; Akaroa, 
Raoul; Milford Sound, Zyall. 
A small creeping herb, forming tufts on wet banks, etc., with small red berries, and very inconspicuous 
green flowers. Leaves 3—3 inch across, reniform, orbicular, or cordate, deeply crenate and obscurely three-lobed ; 
both surfaces, especially the veins underneath, petioles (1-14 inch), and suckers covered with scattered white 
hairs. Panicles linear, erect, sparingly branched, with scattered, nearly sessile flowers. Lower flowers female (often 
apetalous?); upper male or hermaphrodite. Bracteoles and linear-spathulate concave petals deeply laciniate. 
Calya-lobes erect, with a long point. Filaments long; anthers with a small claw at the apex. Berries 4 inch 
long, obeuneate, fleshy.—The trivial name monoica is not happy, most species of the genus being very frequently 
monoicous. 
* In the “Flora Antarctica,’ vol. ii. p. 273, I have erroneously described the embryo as erect, and as at the 
opposite end of the seed. How the error occurred I know not, as I have long been aware of its position being 
always as above described. 
a 
