acuminate, narrowed to a rounded or subcordate base, membranous, glabrous or strigose on the midrib beneath, margins serrulate; stipules long, closely sheathing, ciliate and pilose with long erect hairs. Spikes terminal, very slender, simple or sparingly branched, 1–2 in. long; bracts narrow-turbinate, truncate, margins ciliate. Flowers 2–3 to each bract, small, reddish, 112 in. long. Perianth-segments oblong, obtuse, glabrous and eglaudular. Stamens 5 or 6. Style-branches 2, rarely 3. Nut plano-convex with obtuse margins, rarely trigonous, smooth and shining.—P. minus var. decipiens, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 235. P. prostratum, A. Rich. Fl. Nov. Zel. 177 (not of B. Br.); A. Cunn. Precur. n. 358; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 209.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Abundant along the sides of rivers or in lowland swamps from the North Cape to Canterbury. Tutunawai. November–March.
A widely distributed plant, ranging through south Europe, western Asia, Africa, and Australia. It differs from P. minus in the larger size, the more slender and much more erect habit, and in the longer and more ciliate stipules.
2. RUMEX, Linn.
Perennial or annual herbs, very rarely shrubby. Leaves all radical or radical and cauline, often cordate or hastate at the base, entire or toothed or almost pinnatifid. Flowers hermaphrodite or less commonly unisexual, small, green, in axillary clusters or whorls, often forming simple or panicled racemes. Perianth-segments 6, the 3 inner enlarging and closing over the fruit, margins entire or toothed, midrib often tubercled. Stamens 6. Ovary 3-gonous; styles short, filiform; stigmas fimbriate. Nut 3-gonous, included in the enlarged inner perianth-segments, angles acute. Embryo lateral.
A large genus of over 100 species, found in all temperate and many tropical countries, and including several common weeds of cultivation. Both the New Zealand species are endemic.
| Flowering-stems much divaricately branched, 6–18 in. high. Inner perianth-segments without tubercles, reticulate, margins usually with long curved spines | 1. R. flexuosus. |
| Flowering-stems short, stout, depressed, 2–6 in. high. Inner perianth-segments tubercled; margins entire or with 1 or 2 short teeth | 2. R. neglectus. |
Several species of Rumex from the Northern Hemisphere have been introduced into the colony, and are now widely diffused, the most abundant being the English "docks" R. obtusifolius, R. crispus, and R. viridis; and the "sheeps' sorrel" R. acetosella. Descriptions of these will be found in any English Flora.
1. R. flexuosus, Sol. ex Forst. Prodr. n. 515.—A glabrous perennial herb with a diffusely branched stem 6–18 in. high; branches slender, grooved, flexuous, divaricate. Leaves chiefly
