Fls mostly unisexual, plants mostly dioec.; infl. of compound bracted umbels arranged along an elongate extension of the central stem (Elongatae) or on spreading peduncles at apex of stem (Paniculatae). Umbels of male plants us. laxer than those of females. Calyx-teeth minute to obsolete; petals white to yellowish, incurved, small; stylopodia of ♂ depressed, of ♀ erect. Fr. narrow-oblong in outline; mericarp ribs 5-4-3, winged; vittae 1-3 per furrow, 2-5 commissural. Glab. very small to very large perennial herbs with stout, often multicipital stocks and slender to very stout, deeply descending taproots; rarely rhizomatous. Lvs us. all basal, mostly compound, with close-set imbricated sheaths (dead sheaths often long remaining as an investiture). Lamina petiolate or not, us. pinnate to decompound; lflts mostly rigid and pungent-pointed. Some 39 described spp. of N.Z. and at least 1 of Australia.
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