Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/249

Aciphylla.] of spinous bracts; male inflorescence much more lax than the female. Bracts with broad sheaths and a 3–5-partite limb, the middle segment much the longest, not refracted. Flowers white; calyx-teeth obsolete. Fruit oblong, ¼–⅓ in. long; carpels usually one 4-winged the other 3- winged, but sometimes both 4-winged or both 3-winged. Vittæ 2–4 in the interspaces and 5–6 on the commissural face.—''Lindsay, Contr. N.Z. Bot. 49, t. 1; Kirk, Students' Fl. 207. A. squarrosa var. b latifolia, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' i. 88.

2. A. squarrosa, ''Forst. Char. Gen.'' 136, t. 38.—Stem tall, stout, erect, 2–6 ft. high, 2–4 in. diam. below, deeply grooved, surrounded at the base by the numerous spreading spmous-pointed leaves. Eadical leaves 1–3 ft. long, 2–3-pinnate; ultimate leaflets crowded, 6–12 in. long or more, very narrow-linear, $2⁄5$–$1⁄6$ in. broad, coriaceous and rigid, deeply striate, gradually narrowed into rigid, spinous points, margins rough with minute serrulations; sheaths broad, produced above on each side into a long pinnately divided spinous leaflet. Inflorescence a dense spike-like panicle composed of numerous umbels almost concealed in the axils of spinous bracts; female inflorescence much more contracted than the male. Bracts with a broad linear-oblong sheath tipped with 3–5 long rigid spines, the middle one much the longest and usually sharply refracted when the fruit is mature. Fruit oblong, ¼–⅓ in. long; carpels usually one with 4 wings, the other with 3. Vittæ 2–3 in the interspaces and 4–6 on the commissural face.—''Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 607, 608; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 87; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 92. Ligusticum aciphylla, ''Spreng. in Schultes Syst. Veg.'' 554. ''A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 274; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 605; Raoul, Choix,'' 46.

Abundant from the East Cape southwards, especially in mountain districts. Sea-level to 3500 ft. Taramea; Kurikuri; Spear-grass. November–January.