152 XXVIII. HALOEAGEAB. [Gunnera. 



Species, about 25, distributed through the cooler regions of the Southern Hemisphere, from 

 South Africa to Chili and the Falkland Islands, Juan Fernaiidez, Java, Sandwich Islands, and Tas- 

 mania. All the New Zealand species are endemic. Some exotic species have leaves from 3ft. to 6ft. 

 in diameter. 



Named in honour of Bishop Gunner, a famous Swedish botanist, 



* Scapes bisexual. Female flowers at the base. 

 Leaves orbicular, lobed. Scapes simple or branched . . 

 Leaves entire. Scapes simple, slender, exceeding the leaves . . 

 Scapes simple or branches very short, hidden amongst the leaves 



** Scapes unisexual. 

 Leaves ovate, ovate-cordate, or oblong. Scapes shorter than the leaves. Drupes 



broadly oboonic, red . . 

 Scapes red, usually exceeding the leaves. Drupes oboonic, red or yellow 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate or ovate, acute, dentate 



Leaves orbicular, cordate, acutely toothed. Scapes shorter than the leaves 

 Leaves with long sheathing petioles, ovate-cuneate. Flowers often dimorphic . . 

 Leaves broadly deltoid, ouneate, coriaceous. Scapes shorter than the leaves 



1. G. monoica, Raoul in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. III. ii. (1844) 117. A 

 slender tufted plant, with creeping rhizomes, glabrous or almost strigose. 

 Leaves reniform or orbicular, with few short hairs on both surfaces, sin.— fin. 

 in diameter, 3— 5-lobed or crenate ov crenate-dentate only; petioles slender, 

 lin.— 2in. long. Panicle lin.— Sin. long, very slender, male flowers above, 

 female with few short often crowded branches. Male : perianth of 2 minute 

 narrow segments ; stamens 2. Female : segments 2, acute ; styles elongated, 

 capillary. Fruits red or white, minute, spherical, forming a compact spike or 

 panicle hidden amongst the leaves. — Raoul, Choix de PL de la Nouv. Zelande 

 XV. t. 8; Hook, f., FJ. N.Z. i. 65; Handbk. 67; DC, Prod. xvi. ii. 599. 

 G. prorepens, Hook, f., Fl. Antarc. ii. 274 (in note, not of Fl. N.Z. i. 66). 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands: Mangonui to STEWART Island: in cool, moist situations, but 

 often rare and local. Sea-level to 3,000ft. Oct., Nov. 



Var. strlgosa. Whole plant more hairy, especially the rhizomes and petioles, which are 

 often strigose. Leaves sometimes crowded at the nodes. — Sp., Ool. in Trans. N.Z.I, xv. (1882) 322. 

 NORTH Island: in rather dry places. Hawke's Bay, Colenso I Mungaroa, Wellington, T. K. 



Var. ramulosa. Stems rather stout, clothed below with the bases of old petioles. Panicle 

 much branched, upper branches lin.-ljin. long. Flowers densely crowded. Drupes not seen. 

 SOUTH Island : Broken River, Enys ! 2,800ft. 



Var. albooarpa. Rhizomes robust, sometimes thicker than a goose-quill. Leaves larger 

 than in the type. Panicle sometimes 6in. long or more, lax or compact, much branched ; branches 

 sometimes Sin. long. Drupes minute, spherical, milk-white, tipped with the black perianth-segments. 

 SOUTH Island : Southland; Stewart Island. A remarkable form of this plant collected in South- 

 land has erect or subereot branches, 12in.-18in. long, with from 4 to 6 shortly-petioled fleshy leaves 

 crowded at each node. 



2. G. mixta, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z.I, xxvii. (1894) 344. Rhizomes 

 slender. Leaves l^in.— 25iu. long, with weak scattered hairs on petiole and 

 blade ; blade ovate or slightly cordate, rounded at the apex, crenate but not 

 lobed. Scape very slender, unbrauched, exceeding the leaves. Upper flowers 

 lax, sessile or shortly pedicelled. Staminate, pistillate, and hermaphrodite 

 flowers intermixed; staminate mostly pedicelled. Perianth-segments 2, narrow- 



