Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/254

214 12. A. simplex, ''Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 440.—Very similar to A. Dobsoni'', and with precisely the same habit, but differing in the leaves, which are less coriaceous and quite entire, l½–3 in. long; lower half expanded into a broad sheath; blade linear-subulate, rigid and coriaceous, concave above, obtusely rounded at the tip with a short pungent mucro, transversely jointed and often longitudinally grooved, midrib usually evident, margins thickened. Flowering-stem stout, 1½–3 in. long; umbels and flowers as in A. Dobsoni. Ripe fruit not seen.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 211.

13. A. Dieffenbachii, Kirk, Students' Fl. 211.—Stem stout, erect, 2–3 ft. high, 1–1½ in. diam. at the base, grooved. Leaves all radical, 1–2 ft. long, 4–8 in. broad, flaccid, greyish-green, 3–4-pinnate; petiole usually more than half the length, sheath with two blunt lobes at the top; blade oblong or ovate-oblong in outline; primary pinnae 4–5 pairs; segments 1½–3 in. long, $1⁄10$ in broad, linear, flat, striate, mucronate. Inflorescence broad, loosely paniculate, of numerous pedunculate compound umbels. Bracts with a broad sheath and rather large pinnatisect lamina. Peduncles 2–5 in. long; rays of the male umbels numerous, slender, of the females about 6; involucral bracts few, linear-subulate. Fruit large, $5⁄8$ in. long, $3⁄8$ in. broad, broadly oblong, much dorsally compressed; carpels one 3-winged and the other 2-winged, rarely both 3-winged. Vittæ 1 in each interspace and 2 on the commissural face.—Ligusticum Dieffenbachii, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 729. Gingidium Dieffenbachii, ''F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is.'' 17, t. 1.

Perennial herbs, often large and stout, usually with aromatic or strong-smelling foliage or roots. Leaves 1–2–3-pinnate or ternately divided; rhachis articulated at the insertion of the leaflets. Umbels compound, rarely simple, usually of many rays; involucral bracts few or many, sometimes wanting. Flowers white or red, polygamous or diœcious. Calyx-teeth small or obsolete. Petals incurved at the tip. Fruit linear-oblong, oblong, or ovate-oblong; carpels rounded or dorsally compressed, each with 5 equal narrowly winged ridges, or one carpel 5–4-winged, the other 4–3-winged. Vittæ usually numerous in the interspaces in the northern species, seldom more than 1 in each interspace in the southern.