132 XXIV. EOSACEAE. [Alchmilla. 



■'A. arvensis, Scop., Fl. Carn. ed. 2, i. 115. . Annual, lin.-5in. high, pubescent- 

 or hairy. Leaves fan-shaped, deeply divided into 3 cuneate segments, which are 

 cleft into obtuse linear lobes. Flowers in sessile clusters opposite the axils, almost 

 hidden by the toothed or incised stipules. Calyx 4-tooi;hed. Aohenes 2-3. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : naturalised from Auckland to Otago, but often local. When 

 growing on loose sand it forms a compact tnrf less than lin. in height. Parsley piert. Oct. to Feb. 

 Europe, North Asia. 



4. ACAENA, Linn. 

 Calyx-tube urceolate, campanulate or obconicj contracted at the mouth, 

 rounded, compressed or 4-angled ; lobes usually 4 or 5, rarely 3-7, valvate, 

 small. Petals 0. Stamens 1-10, rarely 30-40, opposite the sepals. Carpels 1, 

 rarely 2, enclosed in the calyx-tube; ovule 1, pendulous; style subterminal, 

 very short; stigma dilated longitudinally, fringed or plumose, rarely penicillate. 

 Achene solitary, enclosed in the dry hardened closed calyx-tube, which is usually 

 armed with bi'istles. Pericarp bony or membranous. Herbaceous or suffruti- 

 cose plants, with pinnate radical or alternate leaves and toothed leaflets. Stipules 

 adnate to the petiole. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, arranged in inter- 

 rupted spikes or dense heads, with a linear ciliated or laciniate bractlet at the 

 base of each flower. 



Species, about 35, distributed throughout the temperate and cooler regions of the Southern 

 Hemisphere. All the New Zealand species are endemic except A. Sanguisorbae and A. ovhia, the 

 latter being an introduction from Australia, now thoroughly naturalised. The oapitula usually have 

 one or more soarious laoiniated fugacious bracts at the base. 



A. Calyx-tube with numeeous spines oe eeistlbs. 

 Flowers in an erect interrupted spiko . . . . . . . . . . * A. ovina. 



Flowers chiefly in a compact head . . . . . . . . . . * var. ainhigua. 



B. Pehiting-oalyx with a spine at each angle, eaeely spineless. 

 ' Calyx-tube longer than broad. Achene linear. 

 Leaves glabrate or silky. Achene acute with a truncate base .. .,1. A. Sanguisorbae. 



Leaves glabrous. Achene narrowed at both ends, bony . . . . 2. 4. adscendens. 



Leaves glabrate or silky. Heads large. Spines long, reddish-purple . . 3. A. Novae-Zelandiae. 



** Fruiiing-calyx turbinate, shorter than broad. 



Heads pedunculate or sessile. Spines bright-red, rarely 0. Achene broadly 



ovoid, obscurely angled .. .. .. .. .. . . i. A. microphylla. 



Heads sessile. Achene broadly turbinate, 4-angled . . . . . . 5. A. Buchaiiani. 



C. Galyx-tuee much gompbessed. Spines .. .. ..6. A. glabra. 



* A. ovina, A. Gunn. in Field, Neiu South Wales, 358. Erect or ascending, 

 suffruticose, 1ft. -2ft. high, leafy, simple or branched at the base, pubescent or silky 

 or nearly glabrous. Leaves lin.-2in. long ; leaflets in 5-8 pairs, ovate or oblong, 

 Sessile, crenate- toothed or almost pinnatifid, glabrate or silky beneath. Flowers 

 polygamous, sessile or shortly pedicelled, forming an interrupted spike, often crowded 

 near the apex. Calyx-tube downy, clothed with short bristles varying in length, 

 barbed at the tips; lobes 4 or 5, rarely 8, 6, or 7. Stamens 2, 4-5, rarely 8-10. 

 Ovules 1, rarely 2; style fimbriate. Fruiting-calyx ovoid or rounded, glabrous or 

 silky. Aohenes linear-ovate, coriaceous. 



Var. ambigua. Flowers in a compact termii)al globose head, with or without one or mora 

 solitary flowers on the peduncle. Calyx-tube pilose, the 4 upper spines longer and stouter than 

 the others. Calyx-segments 4 or 3, scarcely coherent. Stamens 2. Stigma dilated transversely. 

 Achene slightly compressed, linear. 



