Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/103

Stellaria.] Island) that a beginner will be certain to consider it indigenous. It has flaccid procumbent much-branched stems 6 in. to 2 ft. long, marked by an alternate pubescent line; ovate acuminate leaves, the lower on long ciliate petioles; and flowers both axillary and in terminal cymes.

1. S. parviflora, Banks and Sol. ex Hook f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 25.—A slender pale-green flaccid herb with creeping stems rooting at the nodes, often much branched and forming broad matted patches 6-12 in. diam. or more, glabrous or with a few weak hairs on the petioles. Leaves membranous, ¼–½ in. long, orbicular or broadly ovate, acute or mucronate, rarely cordate at the base; blade usually longer than the petiole. Peduncles solitary, axillary, usually much longer than the leaves, 1–3-flowered; a pair of bracteoles at the fork of the peduncle, and another pair on one and sometimes on all the pedicels. Flowers minute, $1⁄12$ in. diam. Sepals subulate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, with white scarious margins. Petals wanting or 5, 2-cleft to nearly the base, shorter than the sepals. Styles 3. Capsule longer than the sepals, deeply 6-valved. Seeds 4–12, red-brown, deeply pitted.—''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 23; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 57. S. oligosperma, ''Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xviii. (1886) 257. S. pellucida. Col. l.c. xxvii. (1895) 383.

2. S. decipiens, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 7.—A pale-green much and loosely branched decumbent herb, forming matted patches. Leaves ¼–⅔ in. long, orbicular or orbicular-ovate or broadly obovate, rather fleshy, acute or apiculate, with a callous tip, narrowed into a broad and slightly ciliate petiole. Peduncles axillary, usually 2-flowered, generally longer than the leaves; a pair of bracts at the fork of the peduncle and another on one of the pedicels. Flowers small, rather larger than those of S. parviflora. Sepals 5, oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute. Petals 5, 2-cleft to the base, shorter than the sepals, often wanting. Capsules $1/undefined$ longer than the sepals, oblong-ovoid, deeply 6-valved. Seeds dark red-brown, tuberculate.—''Hook. f. Ic. Plant, t. 680; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 23; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 57.