56 
XXXII. KOSACEiE. 
[. Accena . 
or spikes of minute hermaphrodite flowers. — Calyx-tube urceolate or ob- 
conic, with very contracted mouth, terete compressed or 4-angled, smooth 
or hispid with simple or barbed bristles, angles often bearing stiff spines 
barbed at the tip ; limb 0. Petals 4 or 5 small, deciduous, sometimes con- 
nate at the base. Stamens 1-5 ; filaments short, subulate. Ovaries 1 or 2, 
wholly immersed in the calyx-tube ; style subterminal, short, exserted, stigma 
capitate, plumose or fimbriate ; ovule pendulous. Achene enclosed in the 
indurated, often armed calyx-tube ; pericarp membranous, bony or coriaceous. 
A remarkable gemis, almost confined to the southern temperate and antarctic regions, the 
exceptions being a few Polynesian and Mexican species, and one Chilian, which is also found 
in California. The barbed calyces of various species form burrs, which in some pastures in 
Australia adhere to the sheep in such quantities as seriously 
to injure the fleece. 
Fruiting calyx with 4 barbed spines. Leaves very silky . A. Sangidsorbce. 
Fruiting calyx with 4 barbed spines. Leaves glabrous 2. A. adscendens. 
Fruiting calyx glabresceut, with 4 usually simple red spines ... 3. A. microphylla. 
Fruiting calyx villous, with 4 usually simple yellow spines .... 4. A. Bachanani. 
Fruiting calyx without spines. Leaflets minute 5. A. inermis. 
1. A. Sanguis orb se, Vahl ; — FI. N. Z. i. 54. A much branched, 
prostrate herb ; branches rather woody at the base, tips ascending, leafy, more 
or less silky, especially on the leaves below, variable in size. Leaves 2-6 in. 
long; leaflets 8-10 pairs, very variable in shape, oblong orbicular or obovate, 
membranous, coarsely serrate, | in. long, the upper pairs rather larger 
than the lower. Scapes slender, 1-2-leaved. Heads globose, i-j- in. diam. 
Calyx 4-angled ; angles produced into purple bristles \ in. long, barbed at 
the tip. Petals 4, united at the base. Stamens 2. Stigma dilated, feathery. 
— A. anserinafolium, Forst. Prodr. ; Ancistnun diandrum, Forst. Char. Gen. 
Abundant throughout the islands, Banks and Solander, etc., from Kermadec Islands, 
as far south as Lord Auckland’s group, Campbell’s and Macquarrie Islands. 
Leaves used medicinally and as tea by the natives of the Middle Island, Lyall. Also a native 
of Tristau d’Acunha, Australia, and Tasmania, where the heads called burrs are pests to the 
flocks, aud the plant itself is a troublesome weed in gardens. 
2. A. adscendens, Vahl; — FI. Autarct.\. 10; ii. 268. t. 96. A 
prostrate, glabrous or slightly hairy herb, with rather stout, leafy stems. 
Leaves 2-4 in. long ; leaflets 4-6 pairs, coriaceous, iu. long, coarsely 
deeply cut towards the obtuse tip, cuneate at the base, teeth obtuse, often 
tipped with silky hairs. Scape almost leafless, glabrous. Heads ^ in. across. 
Flowers greenish, calyx-tube silky or glabrous, 4-angled, the angles produced 
into purple bristles barbed at the tip. Petals 4, broad, greenish. Stamens 
1-4 ; filaments long. Stigma linear. 
Middle Island: Mountain districts, alt. 4-7000 ft., Nelson, Munro and Sinclair ; Can- 
terbury, Haast and Travers; Otago, lake district, Haast and Buchanan. Macquarrie 
Island, Fraser, in Herb. Hook. Also found iu Fuegia and the Falkland Islands. 
3, A. microphylla. Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 55. Small, tufted, procum- 
bent, much branched, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves 1 in. long ; leaflets 2-6 
pairs, suborbicular, inciso-serrate or cremate, ^ in. long. Scapes short, 1-3 
in. long, leafless. Heads large for the size of the plant, globose. Calyx 
4-angled, the angles thickened or produced into rigid, divaricating red spines, 
that are rarely hispid at the apex. Petals green, united at the base, nearly 
