Geum. | ROSACEAE. 505 
7. G. pusillum Petrie an Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii (1896) 538.—Small, 
depressed, 1-2 in. high. Leaves few, all radical, rosulate, obovate-spathulate 
in outline, 3-1 in. long, sparsely covered with rather long strigose hairs, 
pinnate; terminal leaflet 44 in. broad, rounded, crenate-toothed ; lateral 
leaflets 5-8 pairs, gradually diminishing in size, bluntly toothed. Scapes 
1-2 in. high, 1-flowered, simple, naked or with 1-3 minute bracts, finely 
and closely pubescent. Flowers minute, white. Calyx-tube broadly 
turbinate ; lobes ovate-deltoid. Petals 5-6, small, elliptic-oblong. Fruiting- 
receptacle elongated, villous. Achenes very small, perfectly glabrous, 
obliquely oblong or obovoid; style minute, reduced to a recurved point.— 
LT. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 130; Cheesem. Man. N Z. Fl. (1906) 129. 
SoutH Istanp: Otago—Old Man Range, altitude 5000 ft., Petrie / © 
Allied to G. leiospermum, but separated by the much reduced size, 1-flowered scapes, 
smaller flowers, and minute achenes, the style of which is reduced to little more than a 
hooked point. 
3. POTENTILLA Linn. 
Perennial herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves either pinnate or digitately 
3-5-foliolate ; stipules adnate to the petiole. Flowers solitary or in 
corymbose cymes. Calyx persistent, lobes 5 or rarely 4, valvate, alternating 
with as many bracteoles. Petals 5, rarely 4, usually broad. Stamens 
numerous. Disc annular or coating the calyx-tube. Carpels many, rarely 
few, seated on a small dry receptacle; style persistent or deciduous, 
terminal or lateral; ovule solitary, pendulous. Achenes usually numerous, 
crowded into a head surrounded by the persistent calyx. 
A large genus in the arctic and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere, 
extending into the mountains of the tropics, but extremely rare in the Southern 
Hemisphere. The New Zealand species is almost cosmopolitan. 
1. P. anserina Linn. Sp. Plant. (1753) 495.—Rootstock tufted, giving 
off long creeping runners rooting at the nodes. Leaves all radical, 
numerous, 2-6 in. long, unequally pinnate, green and glabrous or slightly 
silky above, white with appressed silvery tomentum beneath; leaflets 
numerous, 4—] in. long, oblong or obovate or rounded, alternate ones often 
minute, deeply and sharply toothed or incised. Peduncles from the root- 
stock or rooting nodes, 2-6in. long, 1-flowered. Flowers 4—-lin. diam., 
yellow. Calyx silky and villous; lobes lanceolate or oblong; bracteoles 
lobed and cut. Petals obovate. Achenes glabrous or nearly so; receptacle 
villous.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 54; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 54; 
T. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 131; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 130. 
Var. b, . anserinoides..— Leaflets smaller, 4-}$in. long, sessile or petioled.— 
P. anserinoides. Raoul Choix (1846) 28. 
Nort AND Sours IsuaAnps, CHATHAM ISLANDS: Common in moist places from the 
Auckland Isthmus southwards, ascending to nearly 3000 ft. Silver-weed. Decem- 
ber—January. . 
The typical form of the species is almost cosmopolitan: the var. anserinoides, 
which is often difficult to distinguish from it, is said to be endemic. It is much the most 
plentiful state in New Zealand. 
4, ACAENA Linn. 177/- 
Silky-pilose or glabrous perennial herbs; stems branched, prostrate or 
decumbent at the base; flowering branches scapiform, ascending or erect. 
Leaves alternate, unequally pinnate; leaflets toothed or incised ; stipules 
