Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/172

132 : Abundant throughout, from sea-level to 3500 ft.; the var. pilosa usually subalpine. Piripiri. November-February. Also in Australia, Tasmania, and Tristan d'Acunha.

A well-known plant. The heads or "burrs " are often troublesome to sheep-farmers from the readiness with which they adhere to wool.

3. A. adscendens, Vahl. Enum. i. 297.—Stems stout, prostrate, much branched; branches leafy, erect or ascending at the tips, glabrous or sparingly hairy. Leaves 2-4 in. long; leaflets 4-6 pairs, $1⁄5$–$1⁄2$ in. long, ovate or obovate or rounded, obtuse, membranous, often glaucous, coarsely and deeply toothed sometimes halfway to the midrib; teeth often tipped with a pencil of silky hairs. Peduncles stout, strict, 4-8 in. long, glabrous or slightly pubescent; heads ½–¾ in. diam. in fruit. Calyx-tube silky, obconic; lobes 4, persistent. Stamens 2. Stigma fimbriate. Fruiting-calyx narrow-obconic, 4-angled; bristles 4, short and stout, barbed at the tip. Achene tapering to both ends.—''Hook. f. Fl. Antarct.'' i. 10; ii. 268, t. 96; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 56; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 133.

4. A. microphylla, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 55.—Stems prostrate, much branched, often forming extensive patches; branches short, slender, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves ¾–2 in. long, glabrous or sparingly silky, often glaucous, membranous; leaflets 3-6 pairs, $1⁄8$–$1⁄3$ in. long, broadly ovate or rounded, deeply inciso-serrate or crenate, cuneate or rounded at the base. Heads globose, variable in size, ⅓–¾ in. diam. in fruit, on slender peduncles 1–3 in. long or sessile. Calyx-tube silky or glabrous, broadly turbinate; lobes 4, persistent. Stamens 2. Fruiting-calyx short, broader than long, 4-angled, slightly winged at the angles; bristles 4, stout, spreading, bright-red, often wanting. Achenes usually 2, bony.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 56; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 134.