An. Carmtimne 2 ayn den she Y NTI, ST 
Muehlenbeckia. | POLYGONACEAE. 403 
Nortu Istanp: Mountain districts in the interior, from Taupo and the East 
Cape southwards. Sourn Isnanp: Common in mountain districts throughout. 
Sea-level to 4500 ft. December—March. 
Also found in Tasmania and Australia, and reported from Lord Howe Island. 
5. M. ephedrioides Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 211.—A much- 
branched prostrate shrub; stems 9-36in. long or more, rigid and wiry, 
deeply grooved, leafless and rush-like or sparingly leafy ; branchlets often 
scaberulous. Leaves when present few and scattered, petiolate or almost 
sessile, ¢-lin. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, often dilated or almost 
hastate at the base, acute or obtuse, glabrous, sometimes scaberulous on 
the midrib beneath ; stipules short, obliquely truncate. Flowers small, poly- 
gamous ; those on the male plant in lax axillary simple or branched glabrous 
spikes, often with a few female flowers intermixed ; on the female plant in 
few-flowered fascicles or short dense spikes, usually with 1 or 2 male 
flowers mixed with the females. Stigmas fimbriate. Perianth succulent or 
remaining unaltered in fruit. Nut exceeding the perianth, black, smooth 
and shining, triquetrous with the angles obtuse——Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 
237; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 593. 
Var. muricatula.— Smaller and much more slender, branchlets often almost 
filiform. Leaves usually present, 1-4 in. long, linear. Perianth-segments membranous 
in fruit.—M. muricatula Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii (1890) 482 (perhaps a distinct 
species). = kK MA e oT OW Claw, atlow, 
NortH IstanpD: Hawke’s Bay—Near the sea, Colenso! A. Hamilton! Cook 
Strait, B. C. Aston! T.F.C.; Upper Rangitikei, Bishop Williams, Petrie! SoutH 
IstanD: Marlborough—Near Blenheim, Buchanan / T. Kirk! Canterbury—Waipara, 
Haast ! near the mouth of the Rakaia River, Cockayne. Otago—Lower Waitaki, Hector 
and Buchanan ; Kurow, Awamoko, Roxburgh, Petrie/ Var. muricatula ; North Island 
—Lake Taupo, Tryon! T. F.C.; Ruapehu, H. Hill! Waipawa, A. Hamilton ! Sea- 
level to 3000 ft. December—March. 
Easily recognized by the prostrate rush-like stems, which are often entirely 
leafless. 3 
Family XXXIV. CHENOPODIACEAE. 
Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, usually succulent and fleshy, 
sometimes covered with a mealy scurf. Leaves alternate or very rarely 
opposite, simple, sometimes wanting, exstipulate. Flowers small, regular, 
hermaphrodite or unisexual, often dimorphic, variously disposed but usually 
sessile and clustered, clusters often aggregated into dense or interrupted 
spikes or panicles. Bracts often wanting, when present herbaceous, not 
scarious. Perianth inferior, 3-5-lobed or -cleft, herbaceous, persistent, 
imbricate. Stamens 4—5, rarely fewer, hypogynous or perigynous; fila- 
ments subulate or filiform; anthers 2-celled. Ovary superior, 1-celled ; 
style-branches 2-3, either free or united at the base; ovule solitary, basal 
or lateral, amphitropous. Fruit usually a utricle, rarely a berry, enclosed 
in the persistent perianth, which is often enlarged or fleshy. Seed horizontal 
or vertical; testa crustaceous ; albumen present and farinaceous or wanting 
embryo curved or annular or spiral. 
A widely spread family, found in all climates, but most plentiful in maritime or 
saline localities. Genera 80; species between 500 and 600, often difficult of discrimina- 
tion. The order includes the sugar-beet and mangold, two plants of great commercial 
importance ; also the garden-beet, the spinach, and orache. Many of the species are 
