Gunnera L.
Lamina palmately veined, small or enormous and rhubarb-like. Infl. small to very large, of very small insignificant fls. Fr. variously coloured white to dark red.
Key
2
Monoecious, usually with ♂ fls above ♀ in same infl.; infructescence ± hidden amongst lvs; seed free within fleshy envelope
3
Lamina ovate to ovate-triangular, finely and evenly crenate, greenish brown; petiole reddish
Lamina narrow to broad-ovate or elliptic, coarsely serrate, dentate or crenate, or shallowly crenate to entire, green, brown or purplish; petiole green, brown or purplish
4
Base of most laminae obtuse; fr. long-pyriform, pale yellow to deep orange, spaced along stalk
Base of most laminae cordate; fr. short-pyriform, obconic or globose, red-purple to red or yellow, usually clustered along stalk, sometimes more scattered
5
Lvs coarsely dentate, subcoriaceous, broad-ovate to broad- elliptic and usually distinctly cordate
c. 40 spp., mainly S. temperate, also Madagascar, Malesia, Hawaii, and C. America. Native spp. 5, naturalised 1.
The provisional treatment given here allows only 5 indigenous spp., another 5 spp. which were accepted by Allan (1961) are reduced to synonymy. Distribution of ♂ and ♀ fls, and fr. type, are important characters for identification of the indigenous spp.
