Potentilla.] 
XXIII. KOSACEiE. 
55 
Abundant on the east side of all the islands. Var. f3, most common. Banks and Solander, 
etc. This is a cosmopolite plant, being found almost throughout temperate aud arctic 
Europe, Asia and America, also in Tasmania, but the var. /3 is confined to New Zealand. 
3. GEUM, Linn. 
Herbs with perennial rootstocks, more or less pilose ; stems erect, leafy, 
1- or more flowered. Eadical leaves pinnate, often reduced to one large 
lobed leaflet. — Calyx-tube open; lobes 5, alternating with 5 smaller outer 
lobes or bracteoles. Petals 5, orbicular or obovate. Stamens numerous. 
Ovaries numerous, small, crowded on a small torus ; style terminal, elongating- 
after flowering, and then jointed bent or twisted at the middle ; ovule soli- 
tary, ascending. Achenes dry, hairy, with very long, slender, hairy styles. 
Seed ascending. 
A considerable genus, common in temperate regions, both of the north and south hemi- 
sphere. The root of one species is an astringent, and used in medicine. 
Two to three feet high. Leaves interruptedly pinnate 1. G.urbanum. 
Six inches to one foot high. Leaves with a large terminal leaflet . . 2. G. parvijlorum. 
1. G. urbanum, Linn., var. strictumj — G. magellanicunt, Commerson ; 
FI. N. Z. i. 55. A strict, rigid, leafy, erect, hairy silky or villous herb, 2-3 ft. 
high, with woody, stout rhizome. Leaves alternate, 3-6 in. long, pinnate; 
leaflets 3-6 pairs, 1-5 in. long, subsessile, very variable, ovate obovate or ob- 
cuneate, crenate toothed lobed or pinuatifid, alternate pairs often smaller, ter- 
minal much larger, lobed and cut; stipules large and leafy. Flowers 1 in. 
across. Calyx-lobes triangular-ovate, and peduncles pubescent. Petals obo- 
vate, bright yellow, longer than the calyx. Carpels very numerous, densely 
villous, collected in a globose or oblong head ; styles slender, deflexed, ab- 
ruptly bent or twisted once towards the nearly glabrous apex, the portion 
beyond the bend is often broken off, when the style appears hooked at the 
top. 
Common in the central and southern subalpine parts of the Northern Island, and through- 
out the Middle Island, Banks and Solander , etc. Also found in Tasmania, South and North 
temperate America, along the Andes to Fuegia, and in central and eastern Asia. It differs 
from the European G. urbanum chiefly in the stronger habit and larger petals. 
2. G. parvi&ormxi, Commerson ; — FI. N. Z. i. 56. — A small, silky or 
villous herb, 4-18 in. high, rhizome stout woody. Leaves 3-5 in. long, 
pinnate; leaflets 6-8 pairs, all very small, sessile, lobed and toothed; ter- 
minal very large, rounded-reniform, 1-2 in. broad, crenate. Flowers rather 
I I crowded towards the ends of the stems, about \ in. across. Calyx-lobes broadly 
ovate, obtuse. Petals yellow (sometimes white ?), longer than the calyx. 
Styles subulate, tips hooked, villous with long hairs. — Sieversia albiflora , FI. 
Autarct. i. 9. t. 7. 
Northern Island : Ruahine Mountains, Colenso. Middle Island: common in subal- 
piue localities, 2-5000 ft. alt., from Nelson, Sinclair, to Otago, Hector, liord Auck- 
land’s group, J. jD. H. Also found iu S. Chili and Fuegia. 
4. ACiENA, Vahl. 
Perennial herbs, stemless, or with prostrate, branching stems. Leaves 
radical, numerous, pinnate. Scapes slender, bearing dense, globose heads 
