Cheeseman. — On the Genus Carex. 413 



Art. XL. — Additional Notes on the Genus Carex. 

 By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



[Bead before the Auckland Institute, !bul November, 1S91.] 



Carex resectans, n. sp. 



C. inversa, Br., var. radicata, Cheeseman, Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst, xvi., 425. 



Forming broad grassy patches often many feet in diameter. 

 Eootstock creeping, stolomferous. Cuhns short or ahnosfc want- 

 ing, rarely more than 2in. high. Leaves numerous, wiry, invo- 

 lute, filiform, lin.-5in. long, overtopping the culms. Spikelets 

 usually three, but often reduced to a single one, crowded to- 

 gether, pale-green. Bracts long, leafy, sheaths deeply grooved. 

 Glumes ovate or ovate-lanceolate, margins thin, keel stout, 

 3-nerved. Male flowers at the base of the spikelet, few in 

 number and sometimes altogether absent. Perigynia ovate 

 below, narrowed into a long tapering serrate beak, very pro- 

 minently nerved. Stigmas, 2. 



Hab. Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki, Canterbury, alt. 2,500ft., 

 T. F. C. Interior of Otago, D. Petrie ! 



I originally placed this curious little plant as a variety of 

 G. inversa, but further study has convinced me of its distinct- 

 ness. Its chief characters lie in its peculiar habit, wiry filiform 

 leaves, short culms, and in the long-beaked perigynia, which 

 are very sharply toothed above. It forms a short compact turf, 

 and may easily be taken for some creeping rooted grass. 



Carex leporina, L. 



To the localities mentioned in my previous paper (Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi.) should be added the Mount Arthur 

 plateau, Nelson, where it is not uncommon from 8. 000ft. to 

 4,500ft. elevation. Specimens from thence are shorter and 

 stouter and have much browner spikelets than those collected 

 in the lowland districts of Nelson, but I can see no other 

 difference. 



Carex trachycarpa, n. sp. 



C. muricata, Cheeseman, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xvi., 411 ; 

 non Linn. 



Stems tufted, 6in.-18in. high, rather slender, grassy, smooth 

 or slightly scabrid. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, 

 nearly smooth, flat, grassy, striate, j^^in.-iin. broad. Spikelets 

 4-10, androgynous, pale chestnut-brown, compacted into a 

 spike-like head ^in.-l|-in. long. Bracts ovate and membranous 

 at the base, produced into setaceous points usually longer 



