1. S. polaris, A. Gray, Bot. U.S. Expl. Exped. 714.—Forming large rounded masses 3–5 ft. in diam., more or less bristly in all its parts. Rhizome prostrate, 2–3 ft. long, thick and fleshy, annulate. Stems much branched below, stout, 1–1½ in. diam., grooved, succulent, with a heavy rank smell when bruised. Leaves bright-green, 9–18 in. diam., orbicular-reniform, thick and fleshy, bristly on both surfaces, plaited or rugose, margins many-lobed and sharply toothed, veins flabellate; petiole 12–24 in. long, erect, semi-terete; sheath amplexicaul, produced above into a leafy lobed or laciniate membranous ligule. Umbels large, terminal and axillary, compound. Flowers very numerous, ¼ in. diam., waxy-yellow with a purplish centre, shining. Fruit the size of a small peppercorn, globose with a flattened and hollowed apex, black, brilliantly shining.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 100; Kirk, Students Fl. 215. Aralia polaris, Homb. et Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud, Bot. t. 2, Phanerog.; Hook.f. Fl. Antarct. i. 19; Ic. Plant. t. 747.
Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, and Macquarie Islands: Not uncommon. December–January.
2. ARALIA, Linn.
Perennial herbs or shrubs, glabrous or setose or prickly. Leaves alternate, rarely simple, usually digitate or pinnate or pinnately decompound. Umbels solitary or in racemes or panicles, rarely compound; pedicels usually jointed under the flowers. Flowers polygamo-monœcious. Calyx-margin truncate or 5-toothed. Petals 5, slightly imbricate. Stamens 5. Ovary 2–5-celled; styles 2–5, free or connate at the base, at length spreading. Fruit 3–5-celled and 3–5-angular, or subglobose and 2–3-celled.
A well-known genus of about 30 species, mainly natives of the Northern Hemisphere, stretching from Malaya and India to Japan and North America.
1. A. Lyallii, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 295.—A stout herb 1–4 ft. high, often forming extensive patches. Rhizome prostrate or arcuate, creeping. Stems stout, as thick as the little finger, pilose. Leaves radical, crowded, 6–18 in. diam. or more, orbicular-reniform, lobed and deeply toothed, usually glabrous and shining above, more or less clothed with soft bristles beneath; petiole terete, fistulose, with a broad membranous sheathing ligule at the base. Umbels large, compound, forming globose masses 6–12 in. diam. Flowers monœcious or polygamous, ¼ in. diam., reddish-purple. Calyx-margin truncate. Petals 5, linear or linear-oblong. Ovary 2-celled, crowned by two broad and fleshy stylopodia; styles 2, free. Fruit globose, 16 in. diam., 2-celled, black and shining; seeds 1 in each cell.—Students Fl. 216. Stilbocarpa Lyallii, Armst. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 336.
