Plate 210.— CLADIUM COMPLANATUM. 



Family CYPERACEiE.] [Genus CLADIUM, P. Browne. 



Cladium complanatum, Benjqr. in Miimesk. Fisioy. Sii.llsh. Lund (1877), 23, t. fi, f. 1-5 ; 

 Cheeseui. Man. N.Z. Fl. 785. 



Dr. Sven Berggren, an accomplished Swedisli botanist who spent the years 

 1874 and 1875 in investigating the botany of New Zealand, collected the subject 

 of this plate during a visit paid to the North Auckland Peninsula, his specimens 

 being obtained at Ohaeawai and Taheke, between the Bay of Islands and Hokianga. 

 On his return to Sweden Dr. Berggren described the new Phanerogams which he 

 had obtained in a memoir published in the " Minneskrift " of the University of 

 Lund for 1877, including therein a plate and. excellent description of Cladium 

 complanatum. The plant was not again seen until 1890 or thereabouts, when 

 Mr. T. Kirk collected specimens at Puhipuhi, between Whangarei and the Bay of 

 Islands. Lastly, in 1898 Mr. H. Carse discovered an excellent locality for the species 

 at Maungatapere, between Whangarei and the Northern Wairoa River. From the 

 above it will be seen that the plant has a singularly restricted distribution, and 

 has not yet been found outside the limits of the Bay of Islands and Whangarei 

 Counties. 



Cladium complanatum belongs to the subgenus Baumea, which is chiefly 

 separated from the rest of the genus by the spikelets having one or rarely two perfect 

 flowers, and by the nut being sessile, tumid at the apex, and not narrowed into 

 a cuspidate beak. It thus includes the greater number of the species, and is most 

 plentiful in Australasia, Polynesia, and Malaya, although it extends northwards 

 to India and southern China, and westwards to Mauritius. So far as I am aware, 

 the section Baumea does not occur in South Africa or in any part of America. 



I was informed by the late Mr. C. B. Clarke that the nearest relative 

 of C. complanatum is the New Caledonian C. Deplanchei, which comes very near 

 to it indeed. It is perhaps worth mention that two New Zealand species — 

 C. junceum and C. articulatum — actually occur in New Caledonia. 



Plate 210. Clndiioii complanatum, drawn from .sjieciiueus collected by Mr. H. Carse at Mau- 

 ngatapere, Whangarei. Fig. 1, 2-flo\vered spikelet (x 6) ; 2, spikelet (x6); 3 and 4, outer glumes 

 ( X 6) ; 5, flower ( x 8) ; 6, anther (enlarged) ; 7, ovary and style- branches (enlarged) ; 8, ripe nut 

 (x 4) ; U, seed with persistent filaments (x 5). 



