Carex. | CYPERACER. 823 
The best marks of this variable plant are the comparatively lax habit, very 
slender culms which often elongate in fruit and become prostrate, usually aggre- 
gated spikelets, and plano-convex utricles with nerved faces and serrate margins. 
25. C. Wakatipu, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 368. 
—Laxly tufted, often spreading at the base. Culms short, rather 
stout, trigonous, smooth, very variable in size, usually 4-8 in. high, 
but sometimes elongated to 12 orl4in., and alpine specimens are 
often dwarfed to 1-2in. Leaves always much longer than the 
culms, frequently twice the length, broad, flat, grooved, 4-lin. 
diam.; margins slightly scabrid. Spikelets 3-6, closely packed, 
pale- or dark-brown; terminal one (rarely two) male, slender; re- 
mainder all female, sometimes with a few male flowers below or 
rarely above, sessile or the lowest shortly pedunculate, 4-1 in. long; 
bracts very long and leafy, far overtopping the spikelets. Glumes 
broadly ovate, thin and membranous, bifid, pale-chestnut, some- 
times dark-brown ; midrib stout, ending in a short awn. Utricle 
broadly elliptic-ovoid, unequally biconvex, strongly 7—11-nerved, 
pale-brown to dark-brown; margins usually smooth; beak short, 
2-toothed. Styles 2. Nut broadly oblong, lenticular.—Cheesem. in 
Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 434. 
Sourn Isuanpd: Not uncommon in alpine and subalpine localities through- 
out. 2500-5500 ft. December—February. 
Distinguished from C. testacea by the smaller size and more robust habit, 
broader leaves always much exceeding the culms, closely aggregated spikelets, 
and more turgid strongly nerved utricles. 
26. C. devia, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 301.— 
Culms laxly tufted, smooth or nearly so, leafy at the base, 6-18 in. 
high. Leaves shorter than the culms, spreading, rigid and coria- 
ceous, flat or involute, strongly grooved, ;4-tin. diam.; margins 
scabrid. Spikelets 2-4, approximate or the lowest alone remote, 
dark-brown; terminal one the largest, male, rarely with a few 
female flowers at the base, rather stout, sometimes almost clavate, 
$14 in. long; remainder all female, erect, oblong, 4-lin. long, 
sessile or the lowest very shortly pedunculate ; lowest bract long 
and leafy, the rest small. Glumes dark-brown with a pale centre, 
ovate, acute, emarginate or shortly bifid, the midrib produced into 
a hispid awn of varying length. Utricle equalling the glumes or 
rather longer than them, elliptic-ovoid, unequally biconvex or 
almost plano-convex, strongly nerved on both faces, purplish-black ; 
margins entire; beak short, bifid. Styles 2. Nut broadly obovoid- 
oblong, compressed.—Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 433. 
South Isnanp: Nelson—Mount Arthur Plateau, St. Arnaud Mountains, 
Raglan Range, T. 7. C.; Dun Mountain, H. H. Travers! D’Urville Island, 
H. B. Kirk! 1000-3000 ft. December—January. 
Mr. C. B. Clarke considers this to be a variety of C. lucida, to which it 
approaches very closely in the glumes and utricle. But the habit is altogether 
