Carex. | OYPERACE®. 835 
48. C. flava, Linn. Sp. Plant. 975.— Rhizome short, tufted. 
Culms tufted, smooth, trigonous with the angles somewhat acute, 
leafy, 2-Sin. high. Leaves usually longer than the culms in New 
Zealand specimens, yellow-green when dry, flat, #,—1in. broad, 
spreading or recurved; margins slightly scabrid. Spikelets 3-8, 
yellow-green, closely approximate or rarely the lowest remote ; 
terminal one (rarely two) male, slender, +-2in. long; remainder 
all female but usually with a few male flowers at the top, ovoid cr 
roundish, +4in. long, squarrose, sessile or the lowest sometimes 
peduncled; bracts long, leafy, spreading. Glumes ovate, obtuse, 
membranous; margins pale, sometimes hyaline. Utricles much 
exceeding the glumes, spreading or deflexed, ovoid, trigonous, in- 
flated, strongly ribbed, pale yellow-green, suddenly narrowed into 
a long slender scabrid 2-toothed beak. Styles 38. Nut obovoid, 
trigonous.— Benth. Fl. Austral. vu. 444; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xvi. (1884) 439. C. cataracte, R. Br. Prodr. 242; Hook. f. 
Pi tasm. um. 101, t. 151; Handd. N.Z. Fl. 315: Boott, Ill. Car. iv. 
t. 204. C. novee-seelandiz, Boeck. in Flora (1878), 169. 
SoutH Isntanp: Mountain districts from Nelson to Foveaux Strait. 
Usually from 1500 to 3500 ft., but descends to sea-level in several scattered 
localities. December-—February. 
Found also in Australia, Tasmania, and Chili in the Southern Hemisphere, 
and very widely distributed in the north temperate zone. New Zealand speci- 
mens have a smaller utricle than in typical C. flava, and the beak is shorter. 
They thus approach the var. deri, which is often kept as a distinct species. 
49. C. vaccilans, Sol. ex Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 285. 
—Culms tufted, slender, weak, triquetrous with the angles scabrid, 
leafy, 10-18in. high. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, 
4-4 in. broad, flat or keeled towards the base, striate, usually with 
a conspicuous nerve on each side of the stout midrib; margins and 
midrib beneath sharply scabrid. Spikelets 4-9, 1-3 in. long, about 
41n. broad, bright red-brown ; terminal 1-3 male, sometimes mixed 
with a few female flowers; remainder female, usually with a few 
male flowers at the base, the two or three lower ones remote, 
nodding, on long filiform peduncles, the upper ones closer together 
and on shorter stalks or subsessile; bracts long, leafy. Glumes 
ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, entire, gradually narrowed 
into a short or rather long awn, red-brown ; margins paler, often 
lacerate. Utricles usually longer than the glumes, stipitate, fusi- 
form, triquetrous, conspicuously costate-nerved, red-brown, nar- 
rowed into a long slender beak with 2 acute teeth. Styles 3. Nut 
elliptic-oblong, whitish, trigonous.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 317; 
Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 440. C. spinirostris, Col. 
in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 335. 
NortH Istanp: Not uncommon on declivities in dry woods, especially 
near the sea. October-November. 
