Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
8. Arthropodium, R. Br
8. Arthropodium, R. Br.
Tufted perennial herbs, with fleshy fibrous roots. Leaves radical or crowded near the base of the stem, linear or lanceolate, sheathing at the base. Scape or peduncle simple or branched above. Flowers in simple or branched racemes or panicles, white or purplish; pedicels slender, jointed at the middle, solitary or few together in the axil of a scarious bract. Perianth persistent but not twisted, 6-partite; segments distinct, spreading, 3-nerved, sub-equal or the inner rather broader. Stamens 6, hypogynous or attached to the very base of the segments, shorter than the perianth; filaments bearded; anthers linear, erect, basifixed, in-trorsely dehiscent. Ovary sessile, 3-celled; ovules several in each cell; style filiform; stigma small. Capsule subglobose, loculicid-ally 3-valved. Seeds usually few in each cell, angular; testa black, smooth or minutely granulate.
Besides the two speoies found in New Zealand, both of which are endemic, there are 5 or 6 in Australia, and 1 in New Caledonia.
Tall and stout, 1–2½ ft. Leaves fleshy, 1–2 in. broad. Flowers ¾–1 in. diam. 1. A, cirrhatum. Slender, 3–12 in. high. Leaves grassy, flaccid, 1/10–¼ in. broad. Flowers ¼ in. diam. 2. A. candidum.
1. | A. cirrhatum, R. Br. in Bot. Mag. t. 2350.—A perfectly-glabrous tufted herb 1–3 ft. high; root with copious long fleshy-fibres. Leaves numerous, spreading, 1–2 ft. long, 1–2½ in. broad, lanceolate or oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, narrowed to an equitant and subdistichous base, flat or obtusely keeled, rather fleshy. Scape stout, terete, naked; panicle large, often 1 ft. long, deltoid, much branched; primary bracts broad, foliaceous. Flowers white,¾–1 in. diam., 1–3 together along the branches of the panicle; pedicels ⅓–⅔ in. long. Perianth-segments oblong-lanceolate, acu-minate. Filaments filiform at the base, provided above the middle with a thickened densely woolly appendage, which is pro-duced downwards into 2 woolly tails. Capsule oblong-globose, ⅓ in long. Seeds black, opaque, angular.— A. Cunn. Precur. n. 299; R aoul, Choix, 10; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 254; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 285. Anthericum cirratum, Forst. Prodr. n. 148; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 155. North island: From the Three Kings Islands and the North Oape to-Wellington, not uncommon, especially near the sea. South Island: Nelson— Takaka, Kingsley; West Wanganui, Hursthouse. Rengarenga. November–December. This differs from the other species of the genus in the woolly thickening at the middle of the filament being 2-lobed at the base, the lobes being revolute at the tip, somewhat after the fashion of a tendril, from whence the specific name |
2. | A. candidum, R aoul, Choix Pl. Nouv. Zel. 14, t. 6.—A small slender glabrous herb 3–14 in. high; stem often swollen below the leaves and almost bulbous; roots long, fleshy. Leaves variable in length, 2–10 in. long, 1/10–¼ in. broad, very narrow-linear, flat, grassy, membranous and flaccid. Scape very slender; raceme simple, rarely branched, usually overtopping the leaves. Flowers few or many, usually secund, solitary or the lower ones in twos or threes, white, ¼ in. diam.; pedicels slender, spreading or drooping; bracts long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate. Filaments naked at; the base, then densely hairy almost up to the anther. Capsule globose, membranous, ⅙ in. diam. Seeds 2–3 in each cell, black, angled.— Hook.f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 254; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 285. A. reflexum, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst, xviii. (1886) 275. A. ramulosum, Col. l.c. xxv. (1893) 337. North and South Islands: From Cape Oolville southwards to Fovaaux Strait, not uncommon. Sea-level to 8500 ft. November–January. I cannot see upon what grounds Mr. Colenso has distinguished his two species. The type specimens in his herbarium exactly match ordinary states of A. candidum. |