Flora of New Zealand Series

Stilbocarpa lyallii J. B. Armst. in T.N.Z.I. 13, 1881, 336.

Aralia lyalli Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 17, 1885, 295, t. 17.

Monoec. or polygamous herb with stout arcuate or prostrate stolons. Stems short, c. 1-1·5 cm. diam., ± pilose. Lvs on subterete, fistular, ± pilose-pubescent petioles; sheath membr., amplexicaul, produced into ligule margined by hairs. Lamina suborbicular-reniform, up to 30 cm. or more wide, shallowly lobed, crenate-serrate with teeth mucronate or shortly awned; glab. or nearly so above, ± pilose below; veins prominent above and below, flabellate. Umbels compound, bracts foliaceous, bractlets linear. Calyx truncate; petals 5, about linear-oblong, reddish purple; stamens 5. Ovary 2-loculed, style-branches 2. Fr. black, shining, globose, c. 3·5 mm. diam.; disk with prominent stylopodia; seeds 1 per locule, ovoid.

DIST.: S. Coal Id, Preservation Inlet, Kirk; St. and adjacent islets.

FL.- FT. 12-2.

Armstrong (loc. cit. 337) based his account on plants from Stewart Id cultivated in Christ-church. The Coal Id plant was identified "from the deck of a passing steamer" (Kirk, Stud. Fl. 1899, 285).