Flora of New Zealand Series

hedgehog parsley

Procumbent annual. Stems sparsely hairy, solid, striate, 5-50 cm long, sometimes purple tinged; hairs deflexed. Basal lvs densely hairy above and below, 1-2-pinnate, petiolate; ultimate segments ovate to lanceolate, pinnatifid and sometimes serrate, 5-20 mm long, usually sessile, sometimes shortly petiolulate; stem lvs similar to basal, but usually shortly petiolate and 1-pinnate. Umbels 5-10 mm diam., subsessile or shortly pedunculate, lf-opposed; rays 2-5, 1-5 mm long, giving the umbel a capitate appearance; bracts 0-(1); bracteoles 2-7, linear. Fls few, white or pinkish, c. 1 mm diam. Fr. ovoid, 2-3 mm long; outer mericarps with straight, spreading, thick-tipped spines; inner mericarps tuberculate.

N.: locally common in inland Hawke's Bay and throughout Wellington Province, also collected in Auckland City and near Hamilton; S.: locally common in coastal Marlborough and N. Canterbury, also collected from Pohara (Nelson) and vicinity of Dunedin; Ch.

Britain, C. and S. Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa 1869

Pasture, riverbeds, forest margins, waste places, coastal habitats.

FL Oct-Mar.

The subsessile umbels and dimorphic frs distinguish this sp. As with other Torilis spp., the spinous mericarps are undoubtedly dispersed in sheep's wool which accounts for the common occurrence of T. nodosa at sheep camps and in pasture, particularly in drier areas.