Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

1. Stilbocarpa, A. Gray

1. Stilbocarpa, A. Gray

A stout much-branched herb; stem fistulose. Leaves large, orbicular or reniform, setose; petiole with broad membranous stipuliform sheaths. Umbels 3 or 4 times compound, forming a large globose head 6–9 in. diam.; involucral bracts foliaceous. Flowers polygamous, jointed on the top of the pedicel. Calyx-tube 3–4-grooved; limb obsolete. Petals 5, obovate, obtuse, imbricate in the bud. Stamens 5; anthers ovate. Disc fleshy, annular, 3–4-lobed. Ovary 3–4-celled; styles as many as the cells, recurved. Fruit globose, depressed and hollow at the summit, obscurely 3–4-grooved, dry and corky, covered with a black and shining epidermis, 3–4-celled. Seeds as many as the cells.

A monotypic genus, confined to the islands immediately to the south of New Zealand. It is chiefly separated from Aralia by the hollow axis of the fruit, which gives the summit a peculiar cup-shaped appearance.

1. S. polaris, A. Gray, Bot. U.S. Expl. Exped. 714.—Forming large rounded masses 3–5 ft. in diam., more or less bristly in all its parts. Rhizome prostrate, 2–3 ft. long, thick and fleshy, annulate. Stems much branched below, stout, 1–1½ in. diam., grooved, succulent, with a heavy rank smell when bruised. Leaves bright-green, 9–18 in. diam., orbicular-reniform, thick and fleshy, bristly on both surfaces, plaited or rugose, margins many-lobed and sharply toothed, veins flabellate; petiole 12–24 in. long, erect, semi-terete; sheath amplexicaul, produced above into a leafy lobed or laciniate membranous ligule. Umbels large, terminal and axillary, compound. Flowers very numerous, ¼ in. diam., waxy-yellow with a purplish centre, shining. Fruit the size of a small peppercorn, globose with a flattened and hollowed apex, black, brilliantly shining.— Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 100; Kirk, Students' Fl. 215. Aralia polaris, Homb. et Jacq. Voy. au Pole Sud, Bot. t. 2, Phanerog.; Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 19; Ic. Plant. t. 747. Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes, and Macquarie Islands: Not uncommon. December–January.