Rostkovia. |] JUNCACES. 723 
about 4in. long, narrow ovoid-oblong, obtusely trigonous, acute, 
chestnut-brown, coriaceous, smooth and shining, 3-valved. Seeds 
numerous, small, pale, produced at both ends into a long pearly- 
white appendage.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 292. RB. nove-zealandia, 
Buch. in Trans. N.4. Inst. iv. (1872) 227, t. 16. Marsippospermum 
gracile, Buchen. in Abh. Ver. Bremen, vi. (1879) 374; Monog. 
June. 68. 
Sour Isnanp: Not uncommon in alpine localities, especially in the cen- 
tral and western portions of the Island, usually between 4500-7000 ft. Auckx- 
LAND AND CAMPBELL IsLANDS: Not uncommon in rocky places, 500-1200 ft. 
December—February. 
Easily distinguished from the preceding species by the larger flower, rela- 
tively smaller capsule, and tailed seeds. Mr. Buchanan’s R. nove-zealandie 
was published in the belief that the Auckland Islands plant always had the 
leaves solitary and 2 or 3 times longer than the stems, but in point of fact both 
New Zealand and Auckland Islands specimens are variable in the number and 
length of the leaves. 
2. JUNCUS, Linn. 
Perennial or more rarely annual herbs; stems usually densely 
tuited. Leaves mostly or all radical, stout or slender, terete, 
compressed or flat, sometimes reduced to sheathing scales. 
Flowers small, hermaphrodite, in axillary or terminal fascicles 
or cymes or panicles. Perianth-segments 6, glumaceous, distinct, 
lanceolate or oblong, margins often scarious, the 3 outer often with 
the midrib keeled or thickened. Stamens 6 or rarely 3. Ovary 
more or less perfectly 3-celled, rarely 1-celled; ovules usually 
-numerous in each cell; style divided to the middle into 3 linear 
stigmatic lobes. Capsule completely or incompletely 3-celled, 3- 
valved. Seeds small, ovoid or obovoid; testa minutely striate and 
reticulate. 
A large genus of about 150 species, many of them widely distributed and 
some almost cosmopolitan. Of the 16 species found in New Zealand, 5 have a 
wide range, especially in the Northern Hemisphere; 7 extend to Australia and 
Tasmania, but not to any other countries; one stretches through Australia 
to eastern Asia and as far northwards as China and Japan; another occurs in 
antarctic South America; and 2 are endemic. 
A. Genuini. Stems tall, terete, produced beyond the cyme into an erect often 
pungent tip, base clothed with leafless sheaths. Leaves wanting, or rarely 
I or 2 terete like the stem. 
* Leaves wanting. 
+ Capsule conspicuously longer than the perianth, ovoid-trigonous. 
Stems very tall and stout, 2-5 ft. x 4-tin. Flowers dis- 
tinct in the cyme, not collected into separate groups. 
Stamens usually 6 .. 54 a ad ; 
Stems very slender, 9-24 in. x 4.-;4,1n. Cyme lax, flowers 
not very numerous, distinct in the cyme. Stamens 6-3 2. J. pauciflorus. 
1. J. pallidus. 
