Authors: Lindl.  

Botanical Description

Main stems fairly robust and woody, decumbent and sparsely rooting, to 30cm or more in length. Leaves 5-10cm long, the stalk and midrib finely hairy.

Leaflets eleven to nineteen, sometimes less or more, each one cut almost to the mid vein in five to thirteen narrow lobes. Flowers in short spikes, greenish. Fruits ovoid, 5-8mm long, covered with many short, hooked spines on leafy stems 15-25cm tall. Southern South America at 1000-3000m, usually in open places. Not decorative in fruit but well worth growing for its delicately fern-like foliage and tolerance of shade.