Uncinia. | CYPERACE. 805 
Much too closely allied to U. riparia, from which it can only be separated 
by the smaller size, usually shorter spike, and by the glumes being often tinged 
with chestnut-brown or purplish-red, whereas they are usually green in the forms 
of U. riparia. From U. filiformis it is removed by the stouter habit, broader 
flat leaves, and rather stouter spike. 
12. U. filiformis, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 286.—Culms 
densely tufted, extremely slender, filiform, 3-9in. high, leafy 
towards the base. Leaves usually much exceeding the culms, very 
slender, filiform, 4,—,, in. broad; margins involute, scabrid. Spike 
4-j14 in. long, extremely slender, linear, lax, 7-4, in. broad ; bract 
filiform, exceeding the spike. Glumes oblong-lanceolate, acute or 
acuminate, membranous, pale, equalling the utricles or nearly so. 
Utricles $-41n. long, lanceolate, acuminate, smooth and glabrous, 
faintly nerved; bristle twice as long as the utricle. — Hook. f. 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 310; C. B. Clarke wm Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 391. 
U. debilior, Ff. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. viii. 151; Benth. 
Fl. Austral. vii. 435. 
NortH Istanp: Auckland—Pirongia Mountain, 7. 7.C. Hawke’s Bay— 
Ruahine Mountains, Colenso! H. Hill! Petrie! Taranaki—Mount Egmont, 
Petrie! Wellington—Tararua Mountains, H. H. Travers! T. P. Arnold! 
SourH Isntanp, Stewart IstanD: In hilly ‘and mountain districts throughout, 
but not common. 1000-4500 ft. December—January. 
In its usual state this can be recognised without much difficulty by its 
small size and very slender habit, filiform convolute leaves, small slender spikes, 
and small narrow utricles, which only slightly exceed the glumes. But large 
forms are indistinguishable from states of U. riparia, U. cespitosa, and others. 
Mr. C. B. Clarke refers to it the U. debilior, F. Muell., from Lord Howe Island. 
14. CAREX, Linn. 
Perennial herbs. Culms erect, more or less trigonous or rarely 
terete, often scabrid on the angles. Leaves mostly radical, grass- 
like, usually scabrid on the margins and keel. Spikelets unisexual 
or bisexual, rarely dicecious, solitary or more commonly arranged in 
clusters or spikes, racemes or panicles, all androgynous or the 
upper male with rarely a few female flowers at the top or base, the 
lower female often with a few male flowers at the base or top. 
Glumes imbricate all round the axis. Male flowers of 3 stamens, 
without perianth or hypogynous bristles. Female flowers consist- 
ing of a compressed or trigonous ovary, included in a flask-shaped 
or urceolate 2-toothed organ called the utricle or perigynium ; style- 
branches 2 or 3, long, filiform, protruding beyond the utricle. 
Nut lenticular or plano-convex or trigonous, enclosed in the 
persistent more or less enlarged utricle. 
An immense genus of probably over 1200 species, of worldwide distribu- 
tion, but most abundant in temperate regions, rare in the tropics, save on high 
mountains. Of the 53 species found in New Zealand, no less than 37 are 
endemic, the remaining 16 being mostly widely spread. In elaborating the New 
Zealand species for this work I have received great assistance from the two 
chief authorities on the genus—Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., of Kew, and Pastor 
Georg Kukenthal, of Grub, near Coburg. My warmest thanks are due to both. 
