Eleocharis. | CYPERACEZ. 769 
Spikelet variable in length, +~? in. or more, linear-oblong, cylindric, 
obtuse or subacute, many-flowered. Giumes broadly ovate, obtuse, 
membranous, concave, brown with usually a pale line down the 
centre ; margins broad, scarious. Hypogynous scales 4-8, exceed- 
ing the nut. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly obovoid, 
biconvex, smooth or very minutely pitted, brown, crowned by the 
small conic style-base.— Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 745; Benth. FI. 
Austral. vii. 294 (Heleocharis). EH. gracilis (excl. var. b and y), 
Hook. f. Fi. Nov. Zel. 1. 270; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 301 (not of &. Br.). 
K. ambigua, Kirk ex Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. vi. (1874) 225. 
NortH AND SoutH Is~tanps, CHaTHAM IsLanDS: Abundant in wet places 
from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 2000 ft. November— 
March. 
Also plentiful in Australia, Tasmania, and Norfolk Island. 
5. BE. Cunninghamii, Boeck. in Flora, xii. (1858) 412 (Heleo- 
charis).— Rhizome long, creeping, scaly, stout or slender, dark red- 
brown or almost black. Stems many from the rhizome, variable in 
length, 3-15in., very slender, sometimes aimost filiform, striate ; 
sheath membranous, with a thin oblique mouth. Spikelet small, 
short, 4-1 in. long, broadly ovoid, subacute, 5—20-flowered. Glumes 
broadly oblong, obtuse, membranous, usually pale but often stained 
with red-brown; margins broad, scarious. Hypogynous bristles 
4-8, exceeding the nut. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly obovoid, 
plano-convex or obscurely trigonous, smooth, pale vellowish-brown, 
crowned by the small pyramidal style-base, which is rather broader 
than the top of the nut.— Linnea, xxxvi. (1869-70) 427. E. gracilis, 
var. gracilima and var. radicans, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 270; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 301 (notof &. Br.). EH. gracillima, Hook. f. Handb. 
N.Z. Fl. 745. Heleocharis Hookeri, Boeck. in Linnea, xxxvi. (1869- 
70) 430. Isolepis acicularis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 103 (not of 
i. Br). 
NortH anpD Sours Isuanps.--Wet places from the North Cape to Foveaux 
Strait, but often local in the South Island. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Novem- 
ber—March. 
Hooker’s two varieties gracillima and radicans, origivally published as forms 
of the Australian H. gracilis, only differ in size and degree of development, 
radians being clearly a depauperated state. In many localities they can be 
seen to merge into one another. LBoeckeler, probably working upon scanty 
herbarium material, treated them as distinct species, publishing his H. Cun- 
ninghamii, which answers to var. radicans, in 1858, and H. Hookeri, which is 
equivalent to var. gracilluma, in 1869. EH. Cunningham has several years’ 
priority over Hooker’s gracillima, which was not published until 1867, but it is 
unfortunate that it was not originally applied to what must he considered 
the type of the species, Hooker’s var. gracillima. 
5. FIMBRISTYLIS, Vahl. 
Annual or perennial tufted herbs, usually of small or medium 
size. Leaves from near the base of the stem, grassy or filiform. 
Inflorescence a terminal simple or compound umbel, or reduced to a 
25—F. 
