Uneinia.] CYPERACES. 801 
Norra Istranp: Mount Hikurangi, Adams and Petrie! Ruahine Range, 
Colenso, Petrie! Tararua Range, Buchanan! Sourn Isuanp: Abundant in 
mountain districts throughout. 1000-5500 ft. December—February. 
A very variable plant. New Zealand specimens as a rule have rather paler 
and more acute glumes than is the case in the Australian U. compacta, con- 
stituting the U. divaricata of Boott. But I can see no other difference, and 
many specimens are absolutely identical. Var. Petried is connected with the 
type by numerous intermediates, between which it is impossible to draw a strict 
line of demarcation. 
5. U. purpurata, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 272.— 
Culms tufted, slender or rather stout, scabrid above, leafy at the 
base, 6-14in. high. Leaves usually shorter than the stems but 
sometimes equalling or even exceeding them, flat or slightly con- 
cave, grassy, striate, ,-,4,in. broad; margins scabrid; sheaths at 
the base dusky-brown. Spike #-2in. long, linear-oblong, usually 
dense, continuous. Male portion short, cylindric; bract absent, or 
present and exceeding the spike. Glumes oblong or obovate, obtuse 
or subacute, dark-brown with pale scarious margins, shorter than 
the utricle. Utricle lanceolate, tapering at both ends, plano-convex, 
quite glabrous, faintly nerved, about +in. long; bristle nearly twice 
as long as the utricle. 
Var. fusco-vaginata.—Leaves broader, ;;-$in. diam., equalling or over- 
topping the stems. Spike strict, linear, 1-14in. long; bract usually wanting. 
Glumes green or brown.—U. fusco-vaginata, Kukenthal in litt. 
SoutH Istanp: Otago—Not uncommon in mountain districts, Petrie ! 
Kirk! Var. fusco-vaginata: Mount Arthur Plateau, T. 7. C.; Mount Fyffe, 
Kirk! Arthur’s Pass, Cockayne! T. F. C.; Craigieburn Mountains, Cockayne ! 
Mount Cardrona, Hector Mountains, Mount Ida, Petrie! 1000-4000 ft. 
December-January. 
This appears to be intermediate between U. compacta and U. cespitosa. 
The var. fusco-vaginata may be identical with U. compacta var. viridis, C. B. 
Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 395, of which I have seen no authenticated 
examples. 
6. U. eeespitosa, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 287.—Culms 
tufted, slender, leafy, 6-14 in. high. Leaves longer or shorter than 
the culms, flat, grassy, very variable in width, from ;—$ in. broad ; 
margins scabrid. Spike 14-3in. long, narrow-oblong or almost 
linear, rather dense or lax but not interrupted; male portion very 
short ; bract variable, broad and foliaceous or narrow and setaceous. 
Glumes lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, mem- 
branous, green or pale-green, usually equalling the utricle. Utricles 
about tin. long, oblong - lanceolate, suddenly narrowed above, 
smooth or faintly nerved; bristle about twice the length of the 
utricle.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 310; C. B. Clarke in Journ. 
Linn. Soc. xx. 393. U. horizontalis, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. 
(1883) 334. 
26—FI. 
