414 Transactions. — Botany. 



than the spikelets. Male flowers at the top of the spikelets, 

 usually few in number. Glumes ovate, acuminate or awned, 

 pale -chestnut or pale -brown, with pale -green midribs and 

 hyaline margins. Perigynia smaller than the glumes, not 

 spreading when ripe, plano-convex, ovate in outline, somewhat 

 acute at the base, gradually narrowed into a short bidentate 

 beak, rough with minute projections on both surfaces, strongly 

 ribbed, especially on the convex side. Stigmas 2. 



Hah. Nelson Province : Mount Owen, alt. 4,000ft. ; Mount 

 Arthur and Mount Peel, alt. 3,500ft. to 4,500ft. 



In an immature condition this so closely resembles some 

 states of the northern C. muricata that I referred my first 

 specimens to that species. During a recent visit to the Mount 

 Arthur plateau, however, I obtained mature fruiting specimens 

 which prove beyond doubt that it is a distinct species, utterly 

 unlike C. muricata in the much smaller differently-shaped 

 perigynia, which do not spread when ripe, and are rough all 

 over with minute projections. This last character is a very- 

 peculiar one, and I do not know any species with androgynous 

 spikelets which has the perigynia roughened in a similar man- 

 ner, except a plant which I have also collected on the Mount 

 Arthur plateau, and which exhibits it in a smaller degree. I 

 refrain from describing this because there is a possibility that it 

 may be a large form of G. kirkii, Petrie (Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 xvii., 297). Mr. Petrie does not, however, describe the 

 perigynia as being rough, and the few specimens which I pos- 

 sess are too immature to settle the question. 



In addition to the above peculiarities, the perigynia of C. 

 trachycarpa can be readily distinguished from those of G. muri- 

 cata by being shoi'ter, broader, and flatter, with a much shorter 

 beak, and by the strongly-marked ribs. 



Carex wakatipu, Petrie. 



This is not uncommon on the slopes of Mount Arthur and 

 Mount Peel, ascending to over 5,000ft. I have also a speci- 

 men collected by Mr. Tryon on Mount Burnett, near Colling- 

 wood. This locality is the most northern yet recorded for the 

 species. 



Carex decurtata. 



G. cryiHocarpa, Cheeseman, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xvi., 412 

 (1883). Non G. cryptocarpa, E. Meyer (1831). 



"When describing my G. cryptocarpa I accidentally over- 

 looked the fact that the name had been previously applied to 

 a species common in northern Europe and in some parts of 

 North America. As a new namfe is therefore required I pro- 

 pose that of G. decurtata. It has been recently collected by 

 Mr. Petrie in several localities in the interior of Otago, and is 



