Carex.| CYPERACES. 825 
bifid. Styles 2. Nut obovoid-oblong, plano-convex.—Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xiii. (1881) 290; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 431. 
C. tenax, Berggr. in Minneskr. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 27, t. 7, 
f. 1-7 (not of Chapm.). 
SourH Isntanp: Abundant in hilly and mountainous districts throughout. 
Sea-level to 3500 ft. December—January. 
The chief characters of this species are the strict erect habit, semiterete 
leaves, pale-coloured glumes, and elliptic plano-convex utricles, the margins 
of which are serrate above. The reddish-purple colour, which is often constant 
through large districts, is also seen in C.comans, C. Petriei, C. uncifolia, and 
others. It probably occurs in the mountainous centre of the North Island, but 
I have seen no specimens from thence. 
29. C. cirrhosa, Berggr. in Minneskr. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. 
(1877) 29, t.7, f. 27-34.—A dwarf species forming compact glaucous- 
green or reddish tufts. Culms very short, densely packed, 1—14 in. 
high, leafy throughout. Leaves longer than the culms, narrow, 
flat or almost plano-convex, grooved; tips obtuse, curled and 
twisted when dry; margins scabrid. Spikelets 4-5, approximate 
and almost concealed by the leaves, 1-4in. long; terminal one 
male, slender; remainder all female, with or without a few male 
flowers below, all sessile or the lowest very shortly peduncled ; 
bracts leafy, iar exceeding the spikelets. Glumes ovate-lanceolate, 
entire, cuspidate, whitish-green with a darker midrib. Utricle 
about equalling the glumes, elliptic-ovoid, plano-convex, nerved, 
pale, narrowed into a rather long acutely bidentate beak; margins 
entire or minutely denticulate. Styles2. Nut lenticular.—Cheesem. 
wm Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 485. 
Var. lutescens, Kukenthal, MS.—Culms taller, 2-4in. high. Spikelets 
longer and further apart, the lowest one sometimes remote. Utricle narrow- 
elliptic ; beak longer. 
SourH Istanp: Canterbury—Upper Waimakariri and Lake Lyndon, Berg- 
gren! Hinys! Kirk! Cockayne, T. F. C. December—February. 
A very peculiar little plant. 
30. C. rubicunda, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 353. 
—Forming small reddish-brown tufts. Culms short, strict, erect, 
quite smooth, leafy, 2-4 in. high. Leaves equalling the culms or 
longer than them, narrow, ;4-;,in. broad, convex at the back, 
concave in front, grooved; tips curled and twisted when dry; mar- 
gins smooth. Spikelets 4-5, all closely approximate and sessile, 
or the lowest remote and shortly pedunculate, short, 4—tin. long ; 
terminal one male; remainder female; bracts long, leafy. Glumes 
broadly ovate, entire, shortly cuspidate, pale. Utricle equalling 
the glumes, ovoid or elliptic-ovoid, unequally biconvex, smooth or 
faintly nerved, reddish-brown ; margins smooth, even; beak very 
short, minutely bidentate. Styles 2. Nut lenticular.—C. nove- 
zealandie, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) 273 (not of 
Boeckel.). 
