Acaena

Acaena is a genus of about 100 species of perennial herbs and subshrubs in the 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 and California.

The leaves are alternate, 4-15 cm long, and pinnate or nearly so, with 7-21 leaflets. The flowers are produced in a tight globose inflorescence 1-2 cm 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.

Several Acaena species in New Zealand are known by the common name bidibid. The word is written variously biddy-biddy, biddi-biddi, biddi-bid and a number of other variations. These names are the English rendition of the original Māori name of piripiri.


Species
Acaena dumicola - is a species of perennial plant found only in scrubby and rocky habitats at altitudes of between 300 and 1200 m on South Island, New Zealand. This is a low plant distinctive for its prostrate branches each ending in three bluish-green leaflets. The margins of these leaflets are minutely toothed, the teeth often being reddish-brown. It often grows as a ground cover plant beneath thickets of Matagouri (Discaria toumatou). Flowering occurs in November and December with fruit being produced in January.

Acaena tesca - is a species of low growing perennial plant restricted to the upper slopes of the mountains of central Otago and northern Southland on South Island, New Zealand. This plant spreads using subterranean stems and forms mats in suitable areas. Its habitat is among the high, bleak tussock grasslands of central South Island, growing between tussocks and around rock outcrops. It can be distinguished from its closest congeners by the glaucous leaves with red teeth and its spreading, mat-forming (rather than compact) habit. Flowering occurs in January with fruit being produced in February and March.

Acaena emittens - is a species of perennial plant limited to scrubland and forest clearings at an altitude of 450-1500 m in central North Island, New Zealand.

Acaena juvenca - is a species of perennial plant found in scrubland and forest margins up to an altitude of 1200 m on the eastern side of both North and South Islands, New Zealand. This plant has slender reddish brown branches, often growing prostrately, each ending in three distinctively rounded leaflets which are green, not glaucous as in many of its congeners.

Acaena rorida - is a species of mat-forming perennial plant known only from grassy uplands on the Mangaohane Plateau in the northwestern part of the Ruahine Range on North Island, New Zealand. Within its range, this plant occurs in areas with moist, stable soils such as in hollows in tussocklands and the floors of ravines.

Acaena adscendens

Acaena anserinifolia

Acaena saccaticupula

Acaena microphylla

Acaena argentea

Acaena buchananii

Acaena caesiiglauca

Acaena exigua - Liliwai

Acaena novae-zelandiae

Acaena fissistipula

Acaena glabra

Acaena trifida

Acaena ovalifolia

Acaena ovina

Acaena inermis

Acaena laevigata

Acaena sanguisorbae

Acaena pinnatifida - Sheepburr

Acaena platyacantha

Acaena myriophylla

Acaena sericea

Acaena splendens

Acaena pumila

Acaena lucida

Acaena magellanica

Acaena pallida - Sand bidibid

Acaena microphylla:

 

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