826 CYPERACER. (Carex. 
Nortu Isnanpd: Opepe, near Lake Taupo, 7.. Ff. C. Sourn Isnanp: 
Otago—Marshy places on the shores of Lake Te Anau, Petrie! January— 
February. 
Mr. C. B. Clarke suggests that this should be merged with C. cirrhosa, to 
which it is doubtless very closely allied. But the utricles are much more turgid 
and distinctly biconvex, and the beak very short and not so acutely bidentate. 
The habit is that of depauperated states of C. Petriei, but the spikelets are 
much smaller and closer together and usually sessile, the styles are 2, and the 
utricles are generally faintly nerved. 
31. C. Berggreni, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 297. 
—Small, reddish-brown or green, forming broad depressed tuits. 
Culms branched at the base, very short, stout, spreading, sheathed 
to the top by the leaves, 4-14 in. high. Leaves spreading, exceed- 
ing the culms, 1-2in. long, #,-;4 in. broad, linear, quite flat, 
obtuse, deeply striate, coriaceous; margins smooth or serrate 
above. Spikelets 2-3, small, 4-+in. long, usually approximate, 
all shortly peduncled or almost sessile, red-brown; terminal one 
male; the remainder female; bracts short, broad. Glumes broadly 
ovate, obtuse or very shortly cuspidate, membranous, chestnut- 
brown, usually with a green midrib and paler margins. Uctricles 
rather longer than the glumes, elliptic, biconvex or obscurely 
trigonous, indistinctly nerved, dark red-brown or almost black 
above, paler towards the base; margins smooth; beak almost 
wanting, minutely bifid. Styles 2 or 3. Nut acutely trigonous. 
Sours Istanp: Canterbury—Margins of lagoons near the Cass River, Lake 
Tekapo, 7. #. C. Otago—Mount Pisa, Old Man Range, Mount Kyeburn, 
Petrie ! 2500-5000 ft. December-February. 
One of the most distinct species of the genus. The linear flat leaves, of 
uniform width throughout, and very obtuse at the tip, are unmistakable. The 
styles are sometimes 2, sometimes 3, but the acutely trigonous nut shows that 
the alliance of the species is with the 3-styled division of the genus. My Cass 
River specimens have narrower leaves and more closely compacted spikelets, and 
are placed by Kukenthal as var. augustifolia. 
32. C. Hectori, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviu. (1895) 405.— 
Culms densely tufted, branched at the base, erect, leafy throughout, 
1-3 in. high. Leaves exceeding the culms, green, erect, rigid, flat, 
striate, about ;1,in. broad; tips subacute; margins scabrid above. 
Spikelets 3-4, closely approximate, small, 1-+in. long, red-brown ; 
terminal one male, erect; remainder all female, spreading, ovoid- 
oblong, sessile or the lowest very shortly pedunculate; bracts long, 
leafy, overtopping the spikelets. Glumes ovate, acuminate or cus- 
pidate with the stout excurrent midrib, membranous, chestnut- 
brown with a paler midrib and margins. Utricles narrow-ovoid, 
trigonous, strongly nerved, narrowed at the base and upwards into 
an acutely 2-toothed beak; margins ciliate-serrate above. Styles 3. 
Nut trigonous. 
SourH Istanp : Otago—Old Man Range, altitude 5000 ft., Petrie! 
