naked. Ray-florets in one series, numerous, female, ligulate. Discflorets numerous, hermaphrodite, tubular, limb more or less dilated, 5-toothed. Anthers obtuse at the base. Style-branches of the disc-florets flattened, with lanceolate or triangular tips. Achenes compressed, with winged margins, or thick and obtusely 4-angled. Pappus a ring of short scale-like bristles or altogether wanting.
The genus has its headquarters in Australia, where there are nearly 40 species. In addition to those, and the five following found in New Zealand, there is one from tropical South Africa and another from Assam.
| * Stemless. Leaves all radical. | |
| Minute, perfectly glabrous. Leaves narrow-linear, ¼–1 in. long. Heads 110 in. diam. | 1. B. lineata. |
| Leaves ½–1½ in. long, narrow linear-spathulate, closely and uniformly pinnatifid | 2. B. pinnata. |
| Leaves ½–3 in. long, oblong- or obovate-spathulate, rarely narrower, entire toothed or lobed | 3. B. Sinclairii. |
| ** Stems branched from the base. Leaves radical and cauline. Stems 2–4 in. Leaves few, ½–1 in., oblong-spathulate, unequally 3–8-lobed. Heads ¼–⅓ in. | 4. B. odorata. |
| Stems 3–12 in. Leaves numerous, 1–3 in., oblong-spathulate, coarsely toothed or lobed. Heads ½ in. diam. | 5. B. Thomsoni. |
B. simplicifolia, J. B. Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 338, is quite unknown to me, and there are no specimens in any public collection in the colony. It probably does not belong to the genus.
1. B. lineata, T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 259.—A minute tufted plant ½–1½ in. high, perfectly glabrous in all its parts. Leaves numerous, all radical, ¼–1 in. long, about 125 in. wide, broadest towards the tip, obtuse or subacute, narrowed to the base, which is slightly broader and sheathing, flat, quite entire. Scapes 2–5, slender, strict, naked, elongating in fruit, about twice as long as the leaves. Heads solitary, small, 115–110 diam.; involucral bracts about 8, oblong-ovate, with broad purple scarious margins. Ray-florets few; ligules short, white, revolute. Achenes verv small, pale, compressed, linear-obovate, obtuse, quite smooth and glabrous. Pappus wanting.—Lagenophora linearis, Petrie in Trans. N.Z Inst. xxv. (1893) 271.
South Island: Grassy flats near Lake Te Anau, Petrie! January–February.
A curious little species, quite unlike any other.
2. B. pinnata, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 138.—Rhizome stout, creeping, branched, ascending at the tips. Leaves radical, ½–1½ in. long, linear or narrow linear-spathulate, deeply and closely pinnatifid; segments broadly oblong or rounded, coriaceous, entire, flat or concave beneath, glabrous or minutely glandular-pubescent. Scapes 2–6 in. long, slender, naked, glandular-pubescent. Heads ⅓ in. diam.; involucral bracts oblong, pubescent; margins purple, scarious
