HARDY PERENNIALS 



AND 



OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS, 



Acaana Novae Zealandiae. 



Otherwise A. MICROPHYLLA ; Nat. Ord. SANGUISORBE^;, 

 or ROSE FAMILY. 



THE plant, as may be seen by the illustration (Fig. 1), is small, 

 and its flowers are microscopic, hardly having the appearance of 

 flowers, even when minutely examined, but when the bloom has 

 faded there is a rapid growth, the calyces forming a stout 

 set of long spines ; these, springing from the globular head in 

 considerable numbers, soon become pleasingly conspicuous, and 

 this is by far the more ornamental stage of the plant. It is 

 hardy, evergreen, and creeping. It seldom rises more than one 

 or two inches from the ground, and only when it approaches a 

 wall, stones, or some such fixed body, does it show an inclination 

 to climb ; it is, therefore, a capital rock plant. As implied by 

 its specific name, it comes from New Zealand, and has not long 

 been acclimatised in this country. 



The flowers are produced on fine wiry stems an inch or more 

 long, being nearly erect ; they are arranged in round heads, at 

 first about the size of a small pea ; these, when bruised, have an 

 ammoniacal smell. Each minute flower has four green petals 

 and brownish seed organs, which cause the knob of flowers to 

 have a rather grimy look, and a calyx which is very hard and 

 stout, having two scales and four sepals. These sepals are the 



B 



