Carex. | CYPERACEA. 819 
but sometimes dwarfed to 1 or 2in., at other times attain- 
ing 18in. Leaves shorter or longer than the culms, narrow, 
flat, grassy, s-74;1n. broad. Spikelets 38-5, rarely more or fewer, 
sessile or the lowest very shortly stalked, erect, close together or a 
little remote, +? in. long; terminal one (and sometimes a smaller 
one near its base) wholly male, linear or linear-oblong; the rest 
female, often with a few male flowers at the top, oblong, cylindric; 
bracts long and leafy, the lowest usually exceeding the inflorescence. 
Glumes oblong or obovate-oblong, obtuse or very shortly mucronate, 
shorter than the utricle, dark-purple or purplish-black, usually 
with a narrow pale midrib and margins. Utricle narrow-ovate to 
orbicular-ovate, much compressed, conspicuously nerved almost to 
the apex, green spotted with brownish-red when ripe, upper portion 
minutely granular-papillose ; beak very short, almost wanting, 
entire or minutely 2-toothed. Styles 2. Nut broadly ovate, plano- 
convex.—Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 99, t. 1514; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 318. 
C. vulgaris var. Gaudichaudiana, Boott, Ill. Car. iv. 169, t. 567; 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 442; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. 
(1884) 429. ©. cespitosa, &. Br. Prodr. 242 (not of Good.). 
NortH anp SoutH Istanps: Moist places in mountain districts from the 
Upper Waikato southwards, rarer in the lowlands. Sea-level to 4500ft. | No- 
vember—February. y 
Also in Australia and Tasmania, and very closely allied to the almost cosmo- 
politan C. vulgaris, Fries, differing chiefly in the more compressed and con- 
spicuously nerved utricles. 
19. C. subdola, Boott in Trans. Linn. Soc. xx. (1846) 142.— 
Rhizome creeping, stoloniferous. Culms slender, trigonous, slightly 
scabrid above, 1-2ft. high. Leaves usually exceeding the culms, 
pale-green, soft, grassy, ;4-1in. broad; margins scabrid above. 
Spikelets 4-8, erect, 1-3in. long; terminal 1-3 male, usually 
approximate, sessile, very slender, cylindric; the remainder 
female, usually with a few male flowers at the top, the upper some- 
times geminate, sessile or shortly stalked, the lower solitary, often 
remote, on longer peduncles ; bracts very long and leafy, far exceed- 
ing the inflorescence. Glumes shorter and narrower than the 
utricles, oblong, obtuse, emarginate, with an awn of variable length 
from the centre of the emargination, dark red-brown or purplish- 
brown usually with a green stripe down the centre. Utricle ovate, 
much compressed, conspicuously nerved, green or brownish-green, 
narrowed into a very short entire or minutely 2-toothed beak. 
Styles 2. Nut broadly ovate, plano-convex.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 
i. 282; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 314; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. 
(1884) 430. 
Norru Istanp: Abundant in swamps from the North Cape southwards. 
Sea-level to 1500 ft. November-January. 
