| ** Fruiting calyx broader than long. | |
| Glabrous or sparingly silky. Heads pedunculate or sessile; spines bright-red, rarely wanting | 4. A. microphylla. |
| Usually densely villous. Leaves pale, often hoary. Heads sessile; spines usually yellow | 5. A. Buchanani. |
| | |
| B. Calyx-tube much compressed, spineless. | |
| Perfectly glabrous. Heads large, ½–¾ in. | 6. A. glabra. |
A. Huttoni, R. Br. (ter) in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 382, is the European Potermm sanguisorba, Linn., which is sparingly naturalised in several parts of the colony.
1. A. novæ-zealandiæ, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. (1871) 177.—Stems prostrate, much branched, stout and woody at the base; branches ascending or erect, leafy, silky or nearly glabrous. Leaves 1½–3 in. long, usually glabrous above, silky beneath; leaflets 4-7 pairs, ⅓-¾ in. long, oblong or elliptical, rounded at both ends, coarsely serrate. Peduncles stout, terminating the branches, 2-6 in. long; heads globose, large, ¾-1¼ in. diam. in fruit. Calyx-tube narrow, obconic, 4-angled, pilose; lobes 4, persistent. Stamens 2-3. Fruiting-calyx narrow, 4-angled, slightly winged at the angles; bristles 4, very long, reddish-purple, barbed at the end. Achene coriaceous, narrow linear-oblong, widest in the middle, tapering to both ends.—Students' Fl. 133. A. macrantha, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 383.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon from the Auckland Isthmus southwards. November–January.
Very closely allied to A. sanguisorbæ, but a larger and coarser plant, with larger heads, longer purplish-red spines, and a longer and narrower achene. Mr. Kirk distinguishes a var. pallida, with paler foliage and the spines often greenish.
2. A. sanguisorbæ, Vahl. Enum. i. 294.—Stems prostrate, much branched, often woody at the base; branches leafy, ascending at the tips, more or less silky. Leaves very variable in size, 1-3 in. or more; leaflets 3-6 pairs, ¼–¾ in. long, oblong or obovate or almost orbicular, membranous, deeply toothed or serrate, glabrous or nearly so above, silky-hairy beneath, the upper pairs usually longer than the lower. Peduncles slender, 2–6 in. long; heads globose, ½–¾ in. diam. in fruit. Calyx-lobes 4, persistent. Stamens 2. Stigma broad, fimbriate. Fruiting-calyx 4-angled, with a long barbed bristle at each angle. Achene narrow, broadest below the middle, tapering to the apex.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 566; Raoul, Choix, 49; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 54; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 56; Benth. Fl. Austral, ii. 434; Kirk, Students' Fl. 133. Ancistrum anserinæfolium, Forst. Char. Gen. 4. A. diandrum, Forst. Prodr. n. 52.
