with the calyx-tube, of one or many achenes, drupes, or follicles, or a pome, more rarely a berry or capsule. Seeds erect or pendulous, albumen generally wanting; embryo with large plano-convex cotyledons and a stout radicle.
A large order, found all over the world, but most abundant in the temperate and colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere; comparatively rare in the tropics and in the south temperate zone. Genera about 75; species from 1200 to 1500. It includes most of the important cultivated fruits of northern origin, as peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, &c.; as well as the rose, with its numberless garden varieties. Of the 4 New Zealand genera, Acæna is mainly South American, but extends northwards to California and south-eastwards to Australia and New Zealand; the 3 others are widely spread in temperate regions. Many northern species have established themselves in New Zealand, as will be seen on referring to the list of introduced plants given in the appendix.
| Scrambling or climbing shrubs with prickly stems. Fruit of many crowded succulent carpels | 1. Rubus. |
| Herbs with pinnately lobed or divided leaves. Styles elongating after flowering. Fruit-carpels numerous, dry | 2. Geum. |
| Herbs with pinnate leaves. Styles not elongating after flowering. Fruit-carpels numerous, dry | 3. Potentilla. |
| Herbs with pinnate leaves. Fruiting-calyx usually with stiff bristles, often barbed at the top. Carpels 1, rarely 2 | 4. Acæna. |
1. RUBUS, Linn.
Scrambling or climbing shrubs, rarely herbs, almost always prickly. Leaves alternate, simple or compound, usually palmately or pinnately divided into 3–5 lobes or segments or separate leaflets; stipules adnate to the petiole. Flowers in terminal or axillary panicles, rarely solitary. Calyx-tube broad, open; lobes 5, persistent. Petals 5. Stamens numerous. Disc coating the calyx-tube. Carpels many, seated on a convex receptacle; style subterminal; ovules 2, pendulous. Fruit composed of many succulent 1-seeded drupes, crowded upon an oblong or conical dry receptacle. Seed pendulous.
A large genus, common in the temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere, rarer in the tropics and south temperate zone. The fruits of all the species are edible, and some of them, such as the raspberry and blackberry, both of which have become naturalised in New Zealand, are excellent. All the New Zealand species are endemic.
| * Leaves 3–5-foliolate. | |
| A lofty climber. Leaflets glabrous, cordate or truncate at the base. Panicles large. Flowers white | 1. R. australis. |
| Climbing or scrambling, often forming a dense bush. Leaflets glabrous, rounded or cuneate at the base. Panicles small. Flowers yellowish | 2. R. cissoides. |
| Climbing or scrambling, often forming a dense bush. Leaflets often tomentose beneath, broadly ovate. Fruit large, yellowish | 3. R. schmidelioides. |
