Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Ficoideæ
Order XXXII. FICOIDEÆ.
Annual or perennial herbs, rarely undershrubs, of very various habit. Leaves opposite or alternate or whorled, simple, often fleshy, stipules wanting or scarious. Flowers regular, usually hermaphrodite, solitary or fascicled or cymose. Calyx free or adnate to the ovary, 4–5-celled or -partite, imbricate. Petals either narrow and numerous, or 4–5 and small, or altogether wanting. Stamens perigynous or rarely hypogynous, few or many; filaments free or connate at the base. Ovary superior or inferior, 2–5-celled; styles as many as the cells, free or united at the base; ovules either solitary in the cells and basal, or numerous and axile. Fruit generally a capsule with loculicidal or transverse dehiscence, more rarely drupaceous or separating into 1-seeded cocci. Seeds solitary or many, usually compressed; albumen scanty or copious; embryo slender, curved round the albumen, terete.
A large order, comprising 22 genera and nearly 500 species, mostly tropical or sub-tropical, and especially plentiful in South Africa; rare or absent in cold climates. The properties of the order are unimportant. Many species of Mesembryanthemum have showy flowers, and are cultivated in gardens; and Tegragonia is occasionally used as a pot herb. The remaining genera are mostly insignificant weeds. Both the New Zealand genera are widely distributed, although much more numerously represented in South Africa than elsewhere.
1. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM, Linn.
More or less succulent herbs or undershrubs. Leaves usually opposite, thick and fleshy, trigonous or terete or flat. Flowers conspicuous, terminating the branches or axillary. Calyx-tube adnate with the ovary; lobes 5. Petals numerous, linear, in one or several rows. Stamens numerous, in many rows. Ovary inferior, with 5 or more cells, rarely 4-celled; styles as many as the cells, free or connate at the base, stigmatic on the inner side; ovules very numerous. Capsule enclosed in the persistent calyx, depressed at the apex and loculicidally dehiscent, the valves opening in a star-like manner. Seeds numerous, minute; testa crustaceous.
An enormous South African genus, containing fully 300 species; rare elsewhere, although a few species are widely scattered along the shores of many parts of the world.
| Leaves less than 1 in. long. Flowers ¾–1 in. diam.; peduncles usually short | 1. M. australe. |
| Leaves more than 1 in. long. Flowers 1½ in. diam., on long peduncles | 2. M. æquilaterale. |
1. M. australe, Sol. ex Forst. Prodr. n. 523.—Stems 1–4 ft. long, prostrate and rooting at the nodes, woody, terete. Leaves opposite or in opposite fascicles, connate at the base, ½–1¼ in. long, linear or linear-oblong, triquetrous, flat above, convex and keeled beneath, acute or obtuse, thick and fleshy, often glaucous. Flowers ¾–1 in diam., white or pink; peduncles usually shorter than the leaves, but sometimes nearly twice their length. Calyx-tube fleshy, obconic; lobes 5, 2 of them much longer than the others. Petals very numerous, spreading. Styles 5–8. Capsule 5–8-celled.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 522; Raoul, Choix, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 76; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 83; Benth. Fl. Austral. iii. 324; Kirk, Students' Fl. 184.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Common everywhere on the coasts. Horokaka. October–March. Also abundant in Australia and Tasmania, Norfolk Island, and Lord Howe Island.
2. M. aequilaterale, Haw. Misc. Nat. 77.—Stems robust, woody at the base, prostrate or ascending, sometimes several feet in length; flowering branches short, suberect. Leaves opposite, stem-clasping, 1–3 in. long, very fleshy, linear, acutely triquetrous, smootn, equal-sided or laterally compressed. Flowers 1½ in. diam.; peduncles 1–3 in. long, thickened upwards, winged. Calyx-tube turbinate, ½ in. long or more; lobes unequal, the 2 larger ones often as long as the tube. Petals spreading. Styles 6–10. Capsule 6–10-celled.—Benth. Fl. Austral. iii. 324; Kirk, Students' Fl. 184.
North Island: Coast near Napier; Castle Point, Kirk! December–February. A common plant in Australia and Tasmania, also found in California and Chili.
2. TETRAGONIA, Linn.
Herbs or undershrubs. Stems trailing or erect. Leaves alternate, petiolate, flat but more or less succulent. Flowers axillary, solitary or few together. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary and often produced above it, terete or angled; lobes 3–5. Petals wanting. Stamens inserted on the calyx-tube, variable in number, solitary or few or many. Ovary inferior. 2–8-celled; styles as many as the cells; ovules solitary in each cell, pendulous. Fruit indehiscent, globose or obconic, often horned or tuberculate; endocarp hard or almost bony; epicarp coriaceous or fleshy.
A small genus of about 25 species, most of which are natives of South Africa, a few only being scattered over the coasts of America, Australasia, and parts of Asia.
| Leaves 1–4 in. Fruit turbinate, hard, angular, horned above | 1. T. expansa. |
| Leaves ¾–2 in. Fruit globose, succulent, not horned | 2. T. trigyna. |
1. T. expansa, Murr. in Comm. Gotting. vi. (1783) 13.—A more or less succulent minutely papillose herb. Stems 1–2 ft. high, decumbent or suberect, glabrous or sparingly puberulous. Leaves 1–4 in. long, ovate-rhomboid or triangular, obtuse or subacute, suddenly narrowed into the petiole, quite entire or very obscurely sinuate. Flowers small, yellowish, solitary or rarely 2 together, sessile or on very short peduncles. Calyx-tube broadly turbinate; lobes about as long as the tube, broad, obtuse. Stamens 12–20, irregularly inserted. Ovary 3–8-celled; styles the same number. Fruit about ⅓ in. long, hard and dry, almost turbinate, angular, usually furnished at the summit with 2–4 prominent teeth or horns.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 320; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 523; Raoul, Choix, 48; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 77; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 84; Benth. Fl. Austral. iii. 325; Kirk, Students' Fl. 185. T. halimifolia, Forst. Prodr. n. 223.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon along the coasts; seldom found inland. Kokihi. November-February.
This has long been cultivated in Europe as an edible plant, under the name of "New Zealand spinach." It is also a native of Australia and Tasmania, Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island, Japan, and extra-tropical South America.
2. T. trigyna, Banks and Sol. ex Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 77.—Stems 1–8 ft. long, branched, trailing or almost climbing, terete, woody at the base. Leaves ¾–2 in. long, broadly ovaterhomboid or rounded-ovate, obtuse, abruptly narrowed into the petiole, fleshy, usually covered with transparent papillæ. Flowers small, yellowish, solitary or rarely 2 together; peduncles about as long as the flower. Ovary 2- rarely 3-celled; styles the same number as the cells. Fruit ¼ in. diam., subglobose, succulent, bright-red, obscurely lobed or quite even, not horned. Seeds 1–3.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 84; Kirk, Students' Fl. 185. T. implexicoma var. chathamica, F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is. 12.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: In many places on the shores, but often local. November–February.
Easily distinguished from T. expansa by the trailing habit, smaller broader leaves, and bright-red fleshy fruit. The flowers are often unisexual. It is probably identical with the Australian and Tasmanian T. implexicoma, Hook. f.