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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
10. Angelica, Linn
10. Angelica, Linn.
Perennial herbs, often tall and stout, usually erect, rarely scrambling or subscandent. Leaves pinnate or 2–3-pinnate. Umbels compound, diœcious or polygamous. Calyx-teeth usually obsolete, rarely prominent. Petals incurved at the apex. Fruit ovate or oblong, more or less dorsally flattened with a broad commissure; carpels 5-ribbed, the 2 lateral ribs very broad, forming a wing on each side of the carpel, the 3 dorsal much smaller and narrower. Vittæ 1 or 2 in each furrow, rarely more. Seed much dorsally compressed, plane or concave on the inner face.
A genus of about 30 species, in the Northern Hemisphere scattered through North America, Europe, and western Asia, in the Southern Hemisphere restricted to the five following species endemic in New Zealand.
| Tall, stout, 1–2 ft. Leaves pinnate; leaflets many, 1–2 in., crenate | 1. A. Gingidium. |
| Slender, 3–6 in. Leaves pinnate; leaflets many, pinnatifid | 2. A. decipiens. |
| Slender, 3–9 in. Leaves 3-foliolate or pinnate; leaflets 1–2 pairs, rhombeo-orbicular, crenate | 3. A. trifoliolatum, |
| Leaves 1-foliolate or 3-foliolate; leaflets small, ¼–½ in. | 4. A. geniculata. |
| Leaves pinnate; leaflets 2–5 pairs, large, 1–2½ in. | 5. A. rosœfolia. |
| 1. | A. Gingidium, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 97.—A stout, erect, highly aromatic herb, 1–2 ft. high. Root thick and fleshy. Stems ¼–½ in. diam. at the base, smooth and striate, sparingly branched page 223above. Radical leaves 6–15 in. long, rather fleshy, glaucous, pinnate; leaflets 5–10 pairs, close together or the lower rather distant, 1–2 in. long, sessile, obliquely ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse, finely crenate or serrate, rarely lobed, veins finely reticulate; petioles stout, often longer than the blade, sheath narrow. Umbels few, compound, 1–3 in. diam.; rays 10–20, slender, spreading; involucre wanting; partial umbels usually with an involucel of a few linear bracts. Flowers white. Fruit ⅕ in. long, ovate-cordate; carpels much compressed, with a broad lateral wing on each side, which is produced downwards at the base; dorsal ribs small; vittæ 1 in each furrow and 2 on the commissural face.—Kirk, Students' Fl 212. Anisotome Gingidium, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 89. Ligusticum Gingidium, Forst. Prodr. n. 140. Gingidium montanum, Forst. Char. Gen. 21.
North and South Islands: From Taupo southwards to Otago; once very-abundant, but as it is everywhere greedily eaten by stock it has become scarce in many districts. Sea-level to 4000 ft. Aniseed. November–January. |
| 2. | A. decipiens, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 98.—Very aromatic, 3–8 in. high. Root stout, thick and woody. Leaves numerous, spreading, usually all radical, 3–6 in. long, pinnate; leaflets 6–10 pairs, ¼–½ in. long, sessile, ovate or ovate-oblong, membranous or flaccid, irregularly deeply toothed or pinnatifid; lobes linear, acute, not bristle-pointed; petioles shorter than the blade, sheath broad. Flowering-stems several, usually unbranched, equalling or longer than the leaves. Umbels compound, ½–1½ in. diam.; rays 4–8, unequal, ⅓–1 in. long; involucral bracts few, ovate-lanceolate. Flowers small, white. Fruit ⅙ in. long, oblong, rounded or slightly cordate at the base; carpels 5-winged, the 2 lateral wings much, wider than the 3 dorsal. Vittæ 1 under each furrow and 2 on the commissural side.—Aciphylla decipiens, Hook. f. and Benth. Gen. Plant. i. 916. Ligusticum decipiens, Kirk, Students' Fl. 205.
South Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts from Nelson to-Otago. 2000–6000 ft. December–January. Closely resembling Ligusticum aromaticum in foliage, but the inflorescence and fruit are altogether different. Mr. Kirk refers it to Ligusticum; but all the fruiting specimens I have seen have the lateral wings of the carpels much wider than the dorsal. |
| 3. | A. trifoliolata, Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 425.—Slender, perfectly glabrous, 3–9 in. high; stems creeping and rooting at the base; branches few, spreading. Leaves on rather long slender petioles, 3-foliolate or pinnate; leaflets few, in 1 or 2 distant pairs, simple or again ternately divided; petiolule slender, ½–1½ in. long; blade ½ in., rhombeo-orbicular or flabellate, cuneate at the base, crenate-dentate at the rounded tip, rather membranous, glaucous below; veins reticulated. Umbels small, compound; primary rays few, secondary 3–5; involucral bracts minute, page 224linear. Flowers small, white; styles rather long, slender, spreading. Fruit ¼ in. long, narrow ovate-cordate; carpels compressed, with a broad lateral wing on each side, dorsal ribs narrower but conspicuous. Vittæ 1 under each furrow and 2 on the commissural face.—Ligusticum trifoliolatum, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 97; Kirk, Students' Fl. 206.
South Island: Canterbury—Swampy ground near the Kowai River, Haast, Cockayne! Apparently a very rare and local plant, quite unlike any other species. I have only seen one rather indifferent specimen. |
| 4. | A. geniculata, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 98.—Stems 2–5 ft. long, much branched, scrambling over rocks and shrubs; branches slender, terete, flexuose; internodes 1–3 in. long. Leaves small, alternate, 1-foliolate, of young plants 3-foliolate or 3-lobed; petiole slender, ¼–½ in. long; sheaths broad, produced into 2 blunt lobes at the top; leaflets ¼–½ in. diam., orbicular-ovate or rhomboid or transversely oblong, often cuneate at the base, rounded at the tip, obscurely crenate-dentate, rather thin and membranous, finely reticulate. Umbels small, terminal and lateral, on short peduncles; rays 2–5, very slender, about ⅓ in. long; involucral bracts few, short, linear-subulate. Flowers small, white; petals inflexed at the tips. Fruit ⅕ in. long, oblong-ovoid, cordate at the base; carpels much compressed, the lateral wings very broad, pale and membranous. Vittæ 1 under each furrow and 2 on the commissure.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 213. Anisotome geniculata, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 90, t. 19. Peucedanum geniculatum, Forst. Prodr. n. 136; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 272; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 507. Bowlesia geniculata, Spreng. Umbellif. 14, t. 5.
North Island: Rare and local. East Cape and interior, Colenso; Port Nicholson, Buchanan! Paikakariki, H. B. Kirk. South Island: Akaroa, Raoul, Kirk! gorge of the Waimakariri, Cockayne; east coast of Canterbury and Otago, Armstrong, Buchanan! Petrie! G. M. Thomson! January–February. |
| 5. | A. rosæfolia, Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 581.—Stems 2–5 ft. long, much branched, scrambling over rocks or among bushes, hard and almost woody below, clothed with the persistent sheaths of the old leaves. Leaves cauline, alternate, 2–5 in. long, pinnate; leaflets 2–5 pairs, 1–2½ in. long, opposite, sessile, ovate or ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, often oblique at the base, acute, finely serrate, submembranous or coriaceous, veins reticulated; petiole slender, rigid; sheaths broad, membranous, 2-lobed at the top. Umbels many, terminal and axillary, compound, 1–3 in. diam.; rays numerous, slender; involucral bracts linear or lanceolate. Flowers white. Fruit ⅛ in. long, ovate-cordate; carpels with broad lateral wings. Vittæ 1 under each furrow and 2 on the commissural face.— Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 98; Kirk, Students' Fl. 212. Anisotome rosæfolia, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 90.
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North Island: Not uncommon on rocky shores from the Three Kings Islands to the East Cape and Raglan; rare inland, and much less abundant further south. Hawke's Bay, A. Hamilton! Petrie! Ruahine Range, Harding! Upper Rangitikei, Buchanan! South Island: Akaroa, Raoul. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Koherika; Kohepiro. October–November. This and the preceding species are anomalous in the order from their subscandent stems. The leaflets are furnished with a pair of minute stipellæ at the base—one on the upper surface, the other below. |