411 



A NEW SPECIES OF LEPIDOSPERMA[^.0. CYPERA- 

 CE^] FROM THE PORT JACKSON DISTRICT; 

 WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS BOTANICAL 

 NOTES. 



By a. a. Hamilton. 



Lepidosperjia Fousythii, n.sp. 



Centennial Park, in swamps; flowers in April; fruit in August, 

 1902(A. A. Hamilton). 



A tufted spreading herb with a short rhizome. Stems 3 to 5 

 ft. long, comparatively slender, obtusely angular, finely striate, 

 occasionally grooved. Leaves reduced to long, loose, broad, 

 scarious sheaths with a lamina scarcely | in. long (short for the 

 genus). Panicle about l^in. long, spreading, much branched, 

 the rhachis very flexuose as in L.Jlexuosum R.Br. Sheathing 

 bract of the panicle about 1 in. long. Bracts of the panicle- 

 branches and spikelets gradually shorter, all obtuse but with a 

 short lamina. Glumes obtuse, the midrib produced into a con- 

 spicuous point. Spikelets 4 to 5 lines long. The young inflor- 

 escence pale brown, growing darker with age. Barren and 

 fertile flowers as in the genus. Nuts obovoid, with three flattened 

 ribs, broadly contracted at the base, finely reticulate, not shining, 

 reddish when young, the colour gradually fading as the fruit 

 matures. Scales irregular, frequently all on one side of the nut, 

 longer, narrower, and more lax than in L. flexuosum. 



Planta csespitulosa, difi"usa, herbifera; rhizoma brevi. Calami 

 1-1 "5 m. alti, comparative graciles, obtuse angulati, tenuissime 

 stiiati, nonnunquam canaliculati. Folia attenuata ad iongas 

 latas laxas scariosas vaginas, lamina circiter 1-3 cm. longa. 

 Panicula circiter 3*8 cm. longa, diffusa, ramosissima, axe tarn 

 flexuoso quam in L. jiexuoso^.^v. Bractea amplectans paniculse 

 circiter 2 '5 cm. longa. Bractese ramorum, panicularum spicu- 

 lorumque gradatim breviores, omnes obtusse at lamina brevi. 



