Plate 213.— UNCINIA C^SPITOSA. 



Family CYPERACE^.] [Genus UNCINIA, Pers. 



Uncinia caspitosa, Boott in Hook. j. Fl. Nov. Zel. i, 287 ; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 801. 



Uncinia cwspitosa was gathered by Mr. Colenso in several localities in the middle 

 and southern portions of the North Island during the years 1845 to 1850, as the 

 Ruahine Range, the Wairarapa Valley, and Port Nicholson. I am not aware that 

 it was observed by any other botanist until 1869, when Mr. Kirk collected it at the 

 Thames goldfields. In 1871 I obtained it on the Waitakarei Ranges, and in sub- 

 sequent years in other localities north of Auckland. The first record of its occur- 

 rence in the South Island is that of Mr. A. Hamilton, who in 1877 collected it in the 

 vicinity of Okarito, in southern Westland ; but it was soon found in other districts. 

 Its range in the Dominion is now known to extend from Hokianga in the north to 

 Stewart Island in the south ; but it is rare and local to the north of Lake Taupo. 

 In the South Island it is common in montane districts, especially where wooded ; 

 and it ascends to an elevation of at least 3,000 ft. 



As a species U. cwsfitosa is nearest to U. purpurata, from which it principally 

 differs in the acuminate glumes, which but sUghtly exceed the utricles in length ; 

 whereas in U. purpurata the glumes are obtuse, and are usually much shorter than 

 the utricles. U. ccespitosa has often been confounded with small and slender states 

 of U. australis ; but all such can be distinguished by the much longer spikelets and 

 more brightly coloured glumes, to say nothing of other differences. 



The geographical distribution of Uncinia is interesting. Of the twenty-four 

 species admitted by Kukenthal in his recent revision of the genus (" Das Pflanzen- 

 reich," heft 38), thirteen are found in New Zealand. But one of these extends to 

 Kerguelen Island, another to the Sandwich Islands, and a third to South America, 

 while three stretch to Tasmania or Australia, one of them also advancing as far north 

 as New Guinea. South America has twelve species, one of wliich is found as far north 

 as Mexico and the West Indies, another occurs in the Falkland Islands and Tristan 

 d'Acunha, and a third, as already mentioned, reaches New Zealand. The New 

 Zealand species all belong to the section Stenandrm, in which the filaments are fiU- 

 form ; but half of the American species constitute the section Platyandrce, which 

 has the filaments linear and flattened. 



Plate 213. Uncinia cxvs-pitosa, drawn from specimens collected on the Mount Arthur Plateau, 

 Nelson, at an elevation of 4,000 ft. Fig. 1, glume of male flower (enlarged) ; 2, stamens (enlarged) ; 

 3, glume of female flower (enlarged) ; 4, female flower (x 4) ; 5, utricle (x .5) ; 6, section of utricle 

 (x 5) ; 7, nut and bristle (x 5). 



