402 POLYGONACEAE. | Muehlenbeckia. 
Chita en G me, . 
3. M. complexa Meissn. Gen. Comm. (1843) 227.— Forming dense 
thick and elastic prostrate masses many feet in diam., or climbing over 
bushes or rocks. Stems slender, tough and woody, much interlaced ; 
branches very numerous, flexuous, terete, the ultimate ones pubescent 
with short stiff hairs; bark dark red-brown. Leaves petiolate, exceedingly 
variable in size and shape, even on the same plant, $-#in. long or more, 
broadly oblong or obovate or orbicular, rounded or retuse at the tip, 
rarely subacute, cordate or truncate or rounded at the base, often con- 
tracted in the middle, quite smooth, glabrous or the petiole puberulous, 
coriaceous or almost membranous, margins even, entire; stipules de- 
ciduous. Spikes axillary and terminal, long or short, simple or compound, 
alabrous or puberulous, sometimes reduced to 2 or 3 flowers, at other 
times forming a panicle 1-1$in. long or more. Flowers small, dioecious. 
Stamens 8. Stigmas very broad, fimbriate. Fruiting-perianth much 
enlarged, often }-4in. diam., succulent, waxy-white, forming a fleshy cup 
surrounding the fruit, in some varieties unaltered and herbaceous. Nut 
black, shining, deeply triquetrous.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 236 ; 
Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 592. M. paucifolia Col. mn Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xxi (1889) 99. M. truncata Col. lc. xxi (1889) 101. Polygonum 
complexum A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) n. 357; Raoul Choie (1846) 42; 
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 210. . 
Var. grandifolia H. Carse in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xlviii (1916) 239.—Size and habit 
of M. australe, but ultimate branches terete and densely pubescent. Leaves almost 
as large as those of M. australe, but texture nearer that of M. complezxa. 
(Cy } ' 
Var. microphylla/Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xlvin (1916) 208.—Forming round- 
topped elastic bushes with the habit of M. complexa, but leaves very much smaller, 
1,-j5in. long, variable in shape. —M. microphylla Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst xXx 
20 
(1888) 204. 
Var. trilobata. Cheesem. n. var. — Leaves regularly. and distinctly trilobate or 
panduriform. M. trilobata Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi (1889) 100. 
oe 
NorrH AND Sourn IsLanps, Stewart Isuanp: Abundant throughout, ascending 
to 2000 ft. Pohuehue. November—April. 
Varying much in the size and shape of the leaves, the degree of development of 
the spikes, and the extent to which the perianth enlarges and becomes fleshy in fruit. 
Mr. Colenso made no less than 4 species, based mainly on variations in the above 
characters, but his own specimens show how inconstant these distinctions are, and 
how little they can be relied upon. The four varieties characterized above appear to 
have the range of the species, except Mr. Carse’s var. grandifolia, which I only know 
from Mongonui County. ) 
tars 
4. M. axillaris) Walp. Ann. i (1853) 552.—A small much-branched 
prostrate or diffuse shrubby plant, usually forming densely matted patches 
3-12 in. diam., but sometimes open and straggling; stems and branches 
woody; branchlets puberulous. Leaves on rather long petioles, small, =5-4 in. 
long, broadly oblong or ovate-oblong or almost orbicular, obtuse or retuse, — 
rounded at the base, flat, quite glabrous, dotted beneath. Flowers small, 
solitary or 2 together in the axils of the leaves, or the males rarely forming 
short few-flowered: spikes at the ends of the branchlets; pedicels slender. 
Stigmas fimbriate. Perianth succulent in fruit or almost unaltered. Nut 
triquetrous with obtuse angles, black, smooth and shining, rather longer 
than the perianth—AHook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 236; Benth. Fl. 
Austral. v (1870) 275; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 593; Ill. N.Z. Fl. 
ii (1914) t. 165. M. hypogea Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi (1889) 98. 
Polygonum axillare Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel, 1 (1853) 211. 
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