772 CYPERACER. [Scorpus. 
Stems terete, spongy, leafless, 2-6ft. high. Spikelets in a 
broad panicle or umbel 2-4 in. diam. . -. 12. S. lacustris. 
Stems acutely trigonous, 1-5 ft. high. Leaves longer than 
the stems, broad, flat. Spikelets in a terminal umbel; 
involucral bracts long, leafy.. A Ea .. 13. S. maritimus. 
1. S. lenticularis, Poir. Hncyc. Suppl. v. 103.—Stems slender, 
in very wet places 6-18in. long, elongated and much branched, 
putting out a small tuft of leaves at each node, often forming large 
floating masses; in drier situations shorter and stouter, much more 
sparingly branched, 2-6in. high. Leaves 1—3 in. long, filiform in 
floating specimens, stouter in terrestrial ones. Peduncles shorter 
or longer than the leaves, slender, usualiy 1 from each tuft of 
leaves, each bearing a single terminal spikelet. Spikelets variable 
in size, 4-+in. long, obiong or oblong-ovoid, obtuse, pale-green ; 
bract (lowest glume) usually longer than the spikelet. Glumes 
ovate, acute, concave but scarcely keeled, green, sometimes stained 
with chestnut-brown. Hypogynous bristles wanting. Stamens 2 
or 38. Style-branches 2. Nut three-quarters the length of the 
glume, obovoid, biconvex, tipped by a minute point, slightly nar- 
rowed at the base, smooth, pale.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vu. 326. 
S. fluitans var. terrestris, Benth. l.c. 325. S. crassiusculus, 
Cheesem. wn Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 300 (not of Hook. f.). 
Isolepis lenticularis, k. Br. Prodr. 222; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 86, 
t.145p. Isolepis fluitans, Kirk im Trans. N.Z. Inst. ui. (1871) 166 
(not of fi. Br.). 
NortH Istanp: Auckland—North Cape Peninsula, 7. F. C.; Waikato 
River, Lakes Whangape, Waikare, and Waihi, Kirk! T. F. C.; Lake Taupo, 
Kirk! swamps near the base of Ruapehu, Berggren! H. Tryon! A. Hamilton! 
Petrie! Sea-level to 2500 ft. December—March. 
Also in eastern Australia and Tasmania, and very closely allied to the 
widely spread S. fluitans, L. 
2. S. basilaris, C. B. Clarke, MS.—A dwari species forming 
dense tufts 1-3in. diam. Stems very short, $+in. long, much 
branched at the base, leafy. Leaves far overtopping the stems, 
4-14in. long, sheathing at the base, semiterete above, channelled 
in front, convex at the back, tip obtuse. Spikelets terminal, 
solitary or rarely 2 together, concealed amongst the leaves and 
sometimes almost radical, ;4-4 in. long, ovoid, obtuse, pale-green ; 
bract long, leafy. Glumes broadly ovate, obtuse, with broad white 
membranous margins, and a stout green midrib which is usually 
produced into a thick excurrent tip. Stamens 2. Style-branches 2 
Nut orbicular-obovoid, not angled nor trigonous, slightly com- 
pressed, obtuse, smooth but not polished, minutely dotted, light- 
or dark-brown.—Isolepis basilaris, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 302. 
I. nove-zealandiz, Col. im Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1889) 102. 
