the base, coarsely and irregularly toothed, usually tomentose or pubescent beneath; petioles and midribs with recurved prickles. Panicles 2–8 in. long; branches and pedicels stout, hispid or setose or pubescent. Flowers ⅓ in. diam., whitish, diœcious. Calyx tomentose. Petals broad, rounded. Fruit ⅓ in. diam., pale-yellowish, juicy.—Raoul, Choix, 49; Kirk, Students' Fl. 126. R. australis var. schmidelioides. Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 53; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 54.
Var. coloratus, Kirk, l.c.—Leaflets rugose, white beneath with apressed tomentum.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon throughout, but mostly in lowland districts. October–November.
4. R. parvus, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. vi. (1874) 243, t. 22, f. 2 and 3.—A dwarf prostrate glabrous shrub; stems creeping, 12–18 in. long, sometimes partly buried in the soil and rooting at the nodes; bark red; prickles few. Leaves 1-foliolate; leaflets bronzy, coriaceous, 1–3 in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute, slightly cordate or truncate at the base, acutely dentate; teeth almost spinous; petioles and midrib with a few stout prickles. Flowers few, diœcious, in short terminal or axillary panicles or solitary; pedicels pubescent. Calyx-lobes silky-pubescent, acuminate, reflexed. Petals white, barely exceeding the calyx. Fruit large, ½–1 in. long, oblong, juicy.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 126.
South Island: River-valleys on the western side of the Southern Alps. Heaphy River, Dall; Buller Valley, Kirk; Lyell River, Dr. Gaze; Lake Brunner, Hector! Teremakau Valley, Kirk! Otira Valley, Cockayne! Petrie! Altitudinal range 250–3000 ft.
Apparently a very distinct species, easily recognised by its small size, 1-foliolate leaves with sharply dentate margins, long acuminate sepals, and large oblong fruit. I cannot agree with Mr. Kirk in thinking that it may be "an arrested form of R. australis."
2. GEUM, Linn.
Perennial herbs. Radical leaves crowded, often rosulate, pinnate or pinnatisect; leaflets toothed or incised, the terminal one often much larger than the others; stem-leaves usually small and bract-like. Flowers in a terminal corymbose panicle or solitary. Calyx persistent; lobes 5, usually alternating with 5 bracteoles. Petals 5. Stamens numerous, crowded. Carpels many; ovules solitary, erect; style terminal, filiform, elongating much after flowering, bent at or below the end. Achenes numerous, compressed, crowded on a dry receptacle, each one terminated by the persistent elongated naked or plumose style.
A genus comprising about 35 species, spread through the temperate and cold regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. One of the New Zealand species is widely distributed, another occurs in temperate South America, the rest are endemic.
