800 CYPERACEZ). [ Oncwma. 
are nearly twice the size, and in this respect approaches U. nervosa. Some 
specimens collected by Petrie at Kelly’s Hill, Westland, with shorter and more 
wiry leaves, and a rather longer spike are almost intermediate between the 
present plant and U. nervosa. 
3. U. nervosa, Boott ex Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 102, t. 1534.— 
Culms densely tufted, slender, strict and wiry, 4-9 in. high, leaty 
at the base only. Leaves shorter than the culms, strict, erect, 
wiry, filiform, ,,-,,1n. diam.; margins involute. Spike much 
more slender than in U. compacta, and not so dense, 4-4 in. long, 
about +in. diam. ; lowest glume sometimes produced into a filiform 
bract. Glumes ovate-lauceolate, subacute, pale-brown, keel dis- 
tinctly 3-nerved or -plicate; margins thin and membranous, almost 
scarious. Utricles equalling or slightly exceeding the glumes, 
oblong - lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, trigonous, glabrous, 
distinctly nerved; bristle about twice the length of the utricle. 
Nut trigonous.—U. compacta var. nervosa, C. B. Clarke in Journ. 
Linn. Soc. xx. 395. U. Cheesemaniana, Boeck. im Engl. Bot. Jahr. 
v. (1884) 521. 
SoutH Isuanp: Nelson—Mount Arthur Plateau, 7. #.C. Otago— 
Maungatua, Petrie ! 2000-5000 fr. 
Very close to U. compacta, to which it is referred by Mr. Clarke, but 
differing in the more slender habit, strict filiform leaves, narrower spike, more 
membranous distinctly 3-nerved glumes, and usually longer many -nerved 
utricles. The Maungatua specimens are still more slender, and may be distinct. 
4. U. compacta, Ff. Br. Prodr. 241. — Rhizome creeping, 
stoloniferous. Culms rather stout, rigid, obscurely trigonous, leaty 
towards the base, variable in size, in dry open or alpine situations 
often dwarfed to 2in. or even less, in moist sheltered or shaded 
localities attaining 8-12in. Leaves usually shorter than the stems 
but sometimes equalling or even exceeding them, subrigid, flat, 
grassy, Striate, j4-¢in. broad; margins scabrid. Spike short, 
stout, dense, oblong, 4-lin. long by about +in. diam., pale 
greenish-brown to chestnut-brown; the lowest glume sometimes 
produced into a leaf-like bract occasionally exceeding the spike. 
Glumes ovate-lanceolate, acute or subacute; keel greenish, 1—3- 
nerved; margins pale-brown, membranous. Stamens 3. Utricles 
about equalling the glumes, oblong-lanceolate, narrowed at both 
ends, trigonous, glabrous, smooth or faintly nerved, spreading when 
fully ripe; bristle stout, about twice the length of the utricle. Nut 
trigonous. — Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 309; Fl. Tasm. ii. 102, 
t. 15388 ; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 484; C. Bb. Clarke in Journ. Linn. 
Soc. xx. 394. U. divaricata, Boott ex Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 286. 
U. Clarkii, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1887) 185. 
Var. Petriei, C. B. Clarke, MS.—Less rigid. Spike longer and not so 
dense, 1-2in. long; bract usually overtopping the spike. Ubtricles smaller, 
more evidently stipitate. Otherwise as in the type. 
