Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/131

Pelargonium.] 1. P. australe, Jacq. Eclog. t. 100.—A decumbent or erect simple or branched more or less hairy herb 6-18 in. high; rootstock stout. Leaves on slender petioles 2–6 in. long; blade 1–2 in. diam., ovate-cordate or orbicular-cordate, obscurely 3–5-lobed; lobes finely crenate-serrate, obtuse; stipules broad. Peduncles longer than the leaves; umbels 10–12-flowered. Flowers small, ¼–⅓ in. diam., pink. Sepals ovate, acute, hairy; spur usually very short. Petals from ⅓ to ½ as long again as the sepals, spathulate, notched. Fertile stamens 5, the remainder reduced to membranous scale-like staminodia. Carpels very hairy, their beaks long, lined on the inner face with long soft white hairs.—''Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 298; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 82. P. australe var. clandestinum, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 37. P. clandestinum, L'Herit ex D.C. Prodr. i. 160; ''A. Cunn. Precur. n. 595; Raoul, Choix, 47; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' i. 41.

Herbs, stemless or caulescent. Leaves all radical or alternate, compound, usually 3-foliolate, stipulate or exstipulate. Flowers regular, on axillary 1-or more-flowered peduncles. Sepals 5, imbricate. Petals 5, hypogynous, contorted. Disc without glands. Stamens 10, free or connate at the base, all anther-bearing. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled; styles 5, distinct; ovules 1 or more in each cell. Capsule loculicidally dehiscing, the valves persistent on the axis. Seeds with an outer fleshy coat which bursts elastically; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy.

1. O. corniculata, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 435.—A prostrate, decumbent or ascending, glabrous or pubescent, much-branched perennial 2–12 in. long; stems often matted. Leaves alternate, on long or short petioles, 3-foliolate; leaflets broadly obcordate, very variable in size, $1⁄8$–1 in. long, glaucous beneath. Stipules minute, adnate to the petiole or wanting. Peduncles axillary, 1–6-flowered, about as long as the petioles. Flowers yellow, variable in size. Sepals acute or obtuse. Petals obcordate, notched. Capsule oblong or linear, subcylindric; seeds few or many in each cell.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 42; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 38; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 301; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 83.