Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/621

Chenopodium.] ''A. Cunn. Precur. n. 363; Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 213; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 230; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 161. C. ambiguum, ''R. Br. Prodr.'' 407.

4. C. urbicum, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 218.—A coarse erect or spreading branching herb 1–2 ft. high or more, green and glabrous or rarely slightly mealy; stem angled, grooved. Lower leaves on slender petioles ½–1 in. long; blade ¾–1½ in., triangular or rhombic-ovate, coarsely and irregularly toothed and lobed, rather thin, green on both surfaces, veined; upper smaller, narrower, more acute. Flowers small, in little clusters arranged in dense leafless axillary spikes, or in terminal panicles which are leafy below. Stamens 5, exserted. Styles short. Fruiting-perianth $1⁄15$ in. diam.; segments obtuse, not completely covering the utricle. Seed horizontal, much depressed, minutely punctulate, margins obtuse.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 213; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 230.

5. C. ambrosioides, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 219.—An erect much-branched strong-smelling glandular annual herb 1–3 ft. high; branches slender, strict, leafy. Leaves shortly petiolate, 1–4 in. long, ovate- or oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, acute or acuminate, cuneate at the base, coarsely sinuate-toothed or -lobed, membranous, glabrous or pubescent, green, not mealy; upper ones gradually smaller, linear-lanceolate, entire or nearly so. Flowers exceedingly numerous, very minute, in little clusters in slender axillary often elongated spikes, frequently so copiously produced as to render the upper portion of the plant a large leafy panicle. Stamens 5. Styles 3–4, elongate. Fruiting-perianth about $1⁄25$ in. diam., segments closed over the fruit and completely enclosing it. Seed horizontal or rarely vertical, smooth, polished, shining, margins obtuse.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 213; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 230; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 162.

Warm lowland stations from the North Cape to Taranaki and Hawke's Bay, not common. Has also appeared as a naturalised plant near Wellington. December–April.