Acaena
Acaena is a genus of about 60 species of mainly evergreen, creeping herbaceous perennial plants and subshrubs in the family Rosaceae, native mainly to the Southern Hemisphere, notably New Zealand, Australia and South America, but with a few species extending into the Northern Hemisphere, north to Hawaii (A. exigua) and California (A. pinnatifida).
Species
Biddy-biddy
species
FamilyRosaceae
Native toAmsterdam-St.Paul Is., Antipodean Is., Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, California, Cape Provinces, Chatham Is., Chile Central
Observations7,998
via · Kew POWO
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Species
- Invasive species
- References
- External links
Acaena is a genus of about 60 species of mainly evergreen, creeping herbaceous perennial plants and subshrubs in the family Rosaceae, native mainly to the Southern Hemisphere, notably New Zealand, Australia and South America, but with a few species extending into the Northern Hemisphere, north to Hawaii (A. exigua) and California (A. pinnatifida).
The leaves are alternate, long, and pinnate or nearly so, with 7–21 leaflets. The flowers are produced in a tight globose [inflorescence] in diameter, with no petals. The fruit is also a dense ball of many seeds; in many (but not all) species the seeds bear a barbed arrowhead point, the seedhead forming a burr which attaches itself to animal fur or feathers for dispersal.