Carex. | CYPERACES. 829 
37. C. comans, Berggr. in Minnesk. Fisiog. Salisk. Lwnd. (1877) 
28, t. 7, f. 15-19.—Densely tufted, pale-green or reddish. Culms 
very slender, filiform, quite smooth, leafy, usually 6-18 in. high, but 
sometimes elongating in fruit and prostrate. Leaves longer or 
shorter than the culms, very narrow, filiform, ;',—;'; in. broad, flat 
or concave in front, slightly rounded at the back, grooved and 
striate ; margins scabrid. Spikelets 5-7, linear-oblong, 4—?in. long, 
4-tin. broad; terminal one (rarely two) male, very slender ; 
remainder all female, sometimes with a few male flowers at the 
base, usually distant, the lowermost sometimes almost basal, the 
upper two sessile, the rest on filiform peduncles, that of the lower- 
most often elongate; bracts long, filiform, far overtopping the 
spikelets. Glumes ovate, usually bifid, with a short hispid awn, 
membranous, pale-brown or red-brown ; margins lacerate. Utricles 
rather longer than the glumes, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 
plano-convex or unequally biconvex, smooth or obscurely ribbed on 
the convex face, gradually narrowed into a rather long bidentate 
beak; margins sharply serrate above. Styles 3. Nut trigonous.— 
Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 486. C. Cheesemanii, 
Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 358; Cheesem. in Trans. 
N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 487. 
Var. pulchella, C. B. Clarke, MS.—Smaller. Spikelets usually 4, the 
lowermost remote and basal. Utricles shorter and broader, ovate-oblong, often 
smooth ; beak shorter.—C. pulchella, Berggr. in Minneskr, Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. 
(1877) 29, t. 7, f. 20-26. 
Var. stricta, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv. (1892) 415.—Pale whitish- 
green. Culms short, 4-8in. high, barely half the length of the strict erect 
leaves. Spikelets and glumes shining whitish-green. Ubtricles larger and 
broader, elliptic-ovoid, pale. Perhaps a distinct species. 
Norts anp Sours Istanps, Stewart Istanp: Not uncommon from Ahipara 
and Mongonui southwards. Var. pulchella: Bealey, Berggren! Maniototc 
Plain, Petrie! Var. stricta: Lake Tekapo, 7. F. C. Sea-level to 3500 ft. 
November-—February. 
A very variable species, best separated from its allies by the filiform culms 
and leaves, narrow rather remote spikelets, and lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate 
utricles, sharply toothed above. Mr. Petrie’s C. Cheesemanii usually has longer 
culms and rather broader utricles, but passes so gradually into the type that it 
cannot be distinguished even as a variety. I have followed Mr. C. B. Clarke in 
reducing Berggren’s C. pulchella to C. comans, the differences between the two 
being of no very great importance. 
38. C. plesiostachys, C. B. Clarke MS. in Herb. Kew.—Pale- 
green, densely tufted, with much of the habit of C. comans. Culms 
short, slender, quite smooth, leafy almost to the top, 4~-9in. long. 
Leaves much exceeding the culms, 12-20 in. long, narrow, ,—;;in. 
broad, flat in front, slightly convex behind, grooved; margins 
slightly scabrid. Spikelets 5-6, pale stramineous, closely approxi- 
mate, the lowest not remote, +-2in. long; terminal one male, 
slender; remainder all female, sometimes with a few male flowers 
