92 
XXXIII. TJMBELLIFERiE. 
[Aciphylla. 
tip. Fruit linear or oblong; carpels usually each with 3 dorsal and 2 mar- 
ginal narrow wings, sometimes 1 carpel is 5- and the other 3-winged. 
A very remarkable genus, confined to New Zealand and the Australian Alps, only distin- 
guished from Ligusticum by its curious habit and spinesceut character. 
Stem 2-9 ft. Female inflorescence much contracted. 
Stem 5-9 ft. Spinous leaflets of bracts slender, the middle one refracted 1. A. squarrosa. 
Stem 6-9 ft. Spinous leaflets of bracts lanceolate, middle one patent 
or suberect 2. A. Colensoi. 
Stem 2 ft. Spinous leaflets of bracts erect 3. A. Lyallii. 
Stem 8-12 in. high. Female inflorescence an open panicle or in globose heads. 
Umbels with slender rays. Involucral leaves linear 4. A. Munroi. 
Umbels densely capitate. Involucral leaves very small 5 . A. Lobsoni. 
1. A. squarrosa, Forst. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 87. Tall, unbranched, stout, 
aromatic, 5-9 ft. high, covered with the very long, spreading, spinous leaflets. 
Root very stout. Stem 2-4 in. thick below, grooved. Radical leaves 1 ft. 
or more, pinnate or 2-pinnate ; leaflets crowded, a span or more long, very 
narrow, yU— i in. across, strict, rigid, pungent, striated, rough to the touch ; 
sheath flattened, 2-3 in. long, terminating in long spines. Inflorescence a 
dense, oblong, cylindrical panicle, consisting of numerous floral leaves, with 
small umbels in their axils. Bracts with 3 spinous leaflets, the middle one 
4-6 in. long, refracted when the plant is in fruit ; the lateral shorter, erect, 
Umbels shortly peduncled, few-flowered ; involucre 0. Flowers dioecious. 
Calyx-limb obsolete. Fruit -j in. long; one carpel 3-, the other 5-winged, 
with about 3 vittrn in the interstices. — Forst. Gen. t. 38 ; Hook. Ic. Pi. 
t. 607, 608. 
Middle and southern parts of the Northern Island, and throughout the Middle Island, 
generally below 2000 ft. elevation. The “Wild Spaniard ” of settlers, forming a thicket im- 
penetrable to man : it exudes an aromatic gum-resin, and the roots are devoured by pigs. 
2. A. Colensoi, Hook. /., n. sp. Stem 6-9 ft. high, and leaves much 
larger, broader, and more robust than in A. squarrosa. Leaves forming a 
circle 5-6 ft. diam. of bayonet-like spikes, 2 ft. long, pinnate, or 2-pinnate at 
the base with only 1 or 2 leaflets to each pinna ; leaflets 8-10 in. long, £ in. 
broad, very thick and coriaceous, narrow-linear, acuminate, striate ; margins 
rough or serrulate, cartilaginous; sheath 3 fingers broad, very thick and leathery, 
terminated on each side above by a short, simple or 3-foliolate leaf. In- 
florescence much more lax than in A. squarrosa, the bracts broader and 
shorter ; the middle lobe not refracted. Male umbels on branching pedun- 
cles 2—1 in. long, which often exceed the bract-sheaths, inany-flowered. 
Flowers and fruit as in A. squarrosa, but the wings of the carpels broader. 
Northern Island: top of Ruahine mountains, Colenso. Middle Island: Nelson 
mountains, above 2000 ft., Bidwill, Munro , etc. ; Canterbury, ascending to 5500 ft., Raoul, 
Haast, etc. ; Otago, Lindsay. There are apparently two varieties, one with the leaflets 
grooved and their edges serrulate or rough, the other with thicker, scarcely striated leaflets, 
having smooth margios ; both are called “Spear-grass” and “Wild Spaniard.” Munro 
states that it forms a thicket impenetrable to men and horses. Sinclair suspected that this 
was only a form of A. squarrosa, but the wings of the fruit are broader. 
3. A. Lyallii, Hook.f., n. sp. About 2 ft. high, similar in habit and 
general appearance to A. Colensoi, but perfectly smooth, polished, and much 
smaller. Stein deeply grooved. Leaves simply pinnate or 3-foliolate ; leaf- 
