Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/235

Hydrocotyle.]

1. H. elongata, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 495.—More or less softly pilose, rarely almost glabrous. Seems 4–12 in. long, very slender, branched, creeping and rooting at the nodes. Leaves ½–1 in. diam., orbicular-reniform, deeply 3–7-lobed; lobes rounded, acutely toothed; petioles slender, 1–3 in. long or more; stipules small. Peduncles very slender, exceeding the leaves; umbels 10–30-flowered. Flowers minute, on slender pedicels. Fruit small, brownish, $1⁄10$ in. diam., more or less pubescent or bristly; carpels with one rib on each face.—Raoul, Choix, 46; ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 84; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 85; Kirk, Students Fl.'' 187. H. concinna, ''Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xvii. (1885) 239. H. echinella, Col. l.c. xx. (1888) 191.

2. H. tripartita, ''R. Br. ex A. Rich. Hydrocot.'' 69, t. 61, f. 25.—Usually densely matted, dark-green, smooth and shining, glabrous or nearly so. Stems branched, filiform, creeping and rooting at the nodes, 1–4 in. long. Leaves coriaceous or fleshy, ¼–½ in. diam., 3–5-partite to the base; leaflets cuneate, 2–3-toothed or -lobed at the tip or quite entire; petioles ½–2 in. long; stipules rather large, entire. Peduncles slender, shorter than the leaves; umbels 2–6-flowered. Flowers small, shortly pedicelled or sessile. Fruit small, rather turgid, brownish, glabrous. Carpels rounded at the back, convex on the sides, with one obscure rib on each face.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 83; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' iii. 341; Kirk, Students Fl. 188. H. muscosa, ''B. Br. ex A. Rich. l.c. 68, t. 61, f. 27; Hook f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 86.

Var. hydrophila.—Much smaller and more delicate; stems ½–1 in. long. Leaves $1⁄3$–$1⁄12$ in. diam.; leaflets minute, entire or with 2–3 shallow crenatures. Umbels 1–2-flowered. Fruit much smaller, but otherwise as in the type.—H. hydrophila, ''Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xxix. (1897) 425.

Hawke's Bay and Tongariro, Colenso! Var. Lower Waikato River, Carse! Matata (Bay of Plenty), Petrie! Not uncommon in marshy places. Var. hydrophila: Otago—Tomahawk Lagoon, Petrie! Wickliffe Bay, Bluff, B. C. Aston!