above. Radical leaves 6–15 in. long, rather fleshy, glaucous, pinnate; leaflets 5–10 pairs, close together or the lower rather distant, 1–2 in. long, sessile, obliquely ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse, finely crenate or serrate, rarely lobed, veins finely reticulate; petioles stout, often longer than the blade, sheath narrow. Umbels few, compound, 1–3 in. diam.; rays 10–20, slender, spreading; involucre wanting; partial umbels usually with an involucel of a few linear bracts. Flowers white. Fruit 15 in. long, ovate-cordate; carpels much compressed, with a broad lateral wing on each side, which is produced downwards at the base; dorsal ribs small; vittæ 1 in each furrow and 2 on the commissural face.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 212. Anisotome Gingidium, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 89. Ligusticum Gingidium, Forst. Prodr. n. 140. Gingidium montanum, Forst, Char. Gen. 21.
North and South Islands: From Taupo southwards to Otago; once very abundant, but as it is everywhere greedily eaten by stock it has become scarce ia many districts. Sea-level to 4000 ft. Aniseed. November–January.
2. A. decipiens, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 98.—Very aromatic, 3–8 in. high. Root stout, thick and woody. Leaves numerous, spreading, usually all radical, 3–6 in. long, pinnate; leaflets 6–10 pairs, ¼–½ in. long, sessile, ovate or ovate-oblong, membranous or flaccid, irregularly deeply toothed or pinnatifid; lobes linear, acute, not bristle-pointed; petioles shorter than the blade, sheath broad. Flowering-stems several, usually unbranched, equalling or longer than the leaves. Umbels compound, ½–1½ in. diam.; rays 4–8, unequal, ⅓–1 in. long; involucral bracts few, ovate-lanceolate. Flowers small, white. Fruit 16 in. long, oblong, rounded or slightly cordate at the base; carpels 5-winged, the 2 lateral wings much wider than the 3 dorsal. Vittæ 1 under each furrow and 2 on the commissural side.—Aciphylla decipiens, Hook. f. and Benth. Gen. Plant. i. 916. Ligusticum decipiens, Kirk, Students' Fl. 205.
South Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts from Nelson to Otago. 2000–6000 ft. December–January.
Closely resembling Ligusticum aromaticum in foliage, but the inflorescence and fruit are altogether different. Mr. Kirk refers it to Ligtisticum; but all the fruiting specimens I have seen have the lateral wings of the carpels much wider than the dorsal.
3. A. trifoliolata, Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 425.—Slender, perfectly glabrous, 3–9 in. high; stems creeping and rooting at the base; branches few, spreading. Leaves on rather long slender petioles, 3-foliolate or pinnate; leaflets few, in 1 or 2 distant pairs, simple or again ternately divided; petiolule slender, ½–1½ in. long; blade ½ in., rhombeo-orbicular or flabellate, cuneate at the base, crenate-dentate at the rounded tip, rather membranous, glaucous below; veins reticulated. Umbels small, compound; primary rays few, secondary 3–5; involucral bracts minute,
