Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands, Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, and Macquarie Islands: Abundant throughout, from sea-level to 3500 ft.; the var. pilosa usually subalpine. Piripiri. November-February. Also in Australia, Tasmania, and Tristan d'Acunha.
A well-known plant. The heads or "burrs " are often troublesome to sheep-farmers from the readiness with which they adhere to wool.
3. A. adscendens, Vahl. Enum. i. 297.—Stems stout, prostrate, much branched; branches leafy, erect or ascending at the tips, glabrous or sparingly hairy. Leaves 2-4 in. long; leaflets 4-6 pairs, 15–12 in. long, ovate or obovate or rounded, obtuse, membranous, often glaucous, coarsely and deeply toothed sometimes halfway to the midrib; teeth often tipped with a pencil of silky hairs. Peduncles stout, strict, 4-8 in. long, glabrous or slightly pubescent; heads ½–¾ in. diam. in fruit. Calyx-tube silky, obconic; lobes 4, persistent. Stamens 2. Stigma fimbriate. Fruiting-calyx narrow-obconic, 4-angled; bristles 4, short and stout, barbed at the tip. Achene tapering to both ends.—Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 10; ii. 268, t. 96; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 56; Kirk, Students' Fl. 133.
South Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts, altitude 2000–5000 ft. Macquarie Island: At sea-level, Fraser, Prof. Scott.
This is very closely allied to A. sanguisorbæ, but can usually be distinguished by the more glabrous habit, rounder glaucous and more deeply toothed leaflets, long stout peduncles, and short stout bristles. The stems and peduncles are often reddish-purple.
4. A. microphylla, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 55.—Stems prostrate, much branched, often forming extensive patches; branches short, slender, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves ¾–2 in. long, glabrous or sparingly silky, often glaucous, membranous; leaflets 3-6 pairs, 18–13 in. long, broadly ovate or rounded, deeply inciso-serrate or crenate, cuneate or rounded at the base. Heads globose, variable in size, ⅓–¾ in. diam. in fruit, on slender peduncles 1–3 in. long or sessile. Calyx-tube silky or glabrous, broadly turbinate; lobes 4, persistent. Stamens 2. Fruiting-calyx short, broader than long, 4-angled, slightly winged at the angles; bristles 4, stout, spreading, bright-red, often wanting. Achenes usually 2, bony.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 56; Kirk, Students' Fl. 134.
Var. depressa, Kirk, l.c.—Branches closely appressed to the ground. Leaves smaller. Heads few-flowered, sessile or very shortly peduncled.—A. depressa, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix. (1877) 548.
Var. inermis, Kirk, l.c.—Leaves longer, 1–4 in. long, usually glaucous; leaflets 16–13 in. Fruiting-calyx without bristles.—A. inermis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 54; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 57.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon in mountain districts from the East Cape southwards. Sea-level to 3500 ft. November-January.
A very variable plant. I agree with Mr. Kirk in uniting A. depressa and A. inermis with it. The length of the peduncle is a very variable character, and heads with or without bristles can easily be found on the same plant. Mr. Kirk states that the achene is solitary, but I find usually two in each fruiting-calyx, as described by Hooker.
