400 POLYGONACBAE. [ Rumen. 
1. R. flexuosus Sol. ex Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 515.—A glabrous 
perennial herb with a diffusely branched stem 6-18in. high; branches 
slender, grooved, flexuous, divaricate. Leaves chiefly radical, variable in 
size, 3-12in. long, linear or linear-oblong, acute or obtuse, cuneate or 
truncate or cordate at the base, rarely expanded or subhastate ; margins 
flat or waved. Panicle at first open, but in an advanced fruiting stage the 
branches are often numerous, spreading and intricate; whorls remote, 
4-12-flowered, the lower ones leafy ; peduncles jointed near the base, 
curved, deflexed. Inner segments of the fruiting-perianth about 77> in. 
long, rhomboid, narrowed into a long acuminate tip, reticulated, without 
tubercles ; margins entire or more usually furnished with 1-4 hooked spines 
on each side——Aook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 211; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
237; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 590. R. Cunninghami Meissn. in 
DC. Prodr. xiv (1856) 62. BR. Brownianus A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) n. 360 
(not of Camp.); Raoul Choix (1846) 42. 
KERMADEC IstaAnDs, NortH AND SoutH Isnanps: Abundant throughout. Sea- 
level to 4,000 ft. December—March. 
Very closely allied to the Australian R. Brownii, to which it was referred by Allan 
Cunningham, and from which it differs mainly in the more difiusely branched habit. 
2. R. neglectus 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix (1877) 4938.—A 
glabrous perennial herb 2-6 in. high ; rootstock long, stout, often branched 
above. Leaves rosulate, 1-3in. long, linear-oblong, obtuse, truncate or 
cuneate at the base, margins crenate-undulate ; petiole almost as long as 
the blade. Flowering stem short, stout, depressed, simple or with 1-2 
branches from the base; dense-flowered or rarely elongated with the 
whorls interrupted ; peduncles usually deflexed. Flowers hermaphrodite. 
Fruiting perianth subcampanulate, about tin. long, thickened at the base ; 
outer segments oblong, obtuse, equalling the tube: inner rather longer, 
lanceolate, acute, with a tubercle on the midrib and 1 or 2 short teeth on 
each side.—D. Oliver in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 1245; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
Fl. (1906) 591. R. cuneifolius var. alismaefolius Hook f. Fl. Antarct. 1 
(1844) 67. Aa, Rec, Cnn, Wee, 1935- Ub* IIT 
Nortu Istanp: Pebbly beaches near Wellington, 7. Kirk/ B.C. Aston! SouTH 
Istanp: Canterbury—J. B. Armstrong ; Port Molyneux, Catlin’s River, Bluff, Petrie / 
Martin’s Bay, Poppelwell: Dusky Bay, Buchanan / islands in Foveaux Strait, Cockayne. 
Stawart Istanp: Not uncommon on pebbly and sandy beaches, Cockayne. AUCK- 
LAND Istanp: Hook. f., T. Kirk ! Cockayne! J. S. Tennant ! Novem ber-March. 
3. MUEHLENBECKIA Meissn. \G4O. “Vow. 
Large or small shrubs or undershrubs, often climbing, sometimes 
prostrate or diffusely spreading. Leaves alternate, petiolate, large or 
small, sometimes wanting; stipules short, loosely sheathing. Flowers 
polygamous or dioecious, small, whitish, fascicled within small sheathing 
bracts ; fascicles axillary or arranged in axillary or terminal spikes, racemes, 
or panicles. Perianth deeply 5-partite ; segments equal or the outer ones 
rather larger, often becoming white and succulent in fruit. Stamens 8, 
rarely fewer, affixed to the base of the perianth ; filaments filiform ; anthers 
ovate, in the female flowers reduced to short and thick staminodia or 
altogether wanting. Ovary 3-gonous; in the male flowers small and rudi- 
mentary; styles 3, short; stigmas usually fimbriate. Nut obtusely or 
acutely 3-gonous, enclosed in the usually more or less succulent perianth. 
Come. 
NA tide uth, Rede Arnua, Vook Hor 
; 4. OC) 147. 
