Platk 2U.— CAREX TRACHYCARPA. 



Family CYPERACE^.] [Genus CAREX, Linn. 



Carex trachycarpa, ('heaseiii. in Tnni.s. X.Z. IihsL xxiv (1892), tlii ; Checsem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 812. 



Garex trachycarpa was first observed by myself in January, 1882, on the 

 northern face of Mount Owen, Nelson, which I reached by following to its source 

 the Rolling River, the chief tributary of the Wangapeka. It was gathered in damp 

 places near the junction of the granitic rocks with the limestone which forms the 

 greater portion of Moimt Owen, but did not appear to be at all plentiful. All 

 my specimens were in an immature state, and in that condition presented such 

 a close general resemblance to the northern C. muricata that I at first referred it 

 to that species. In 1886, however, I gathered fully mature examples on Mount 

 Arthur, when the distinctness of the two plants became perfectly obvious. 

 Mr. Townson, in his exploration of the western portion of the Nelson Provincial 

 District, gathered the plant on Mount Lyell and Mount Mantell, and also on Mount 

 Faraday, one of the chief peaks of the Paparoa Range, so that it evidently has a 

 tolerably wide distribution on the v.estern side of the South Island. So far it does 

 not seem to have been gathered by any other botanists. Its altitudinal range is 

 from 3,000 ft. to well over 4.500 ft. 



As a species C. trachycarpa is more nearly allied to some of the larger forms 

 of C. Kirkii than to any other New Zealand species of the genus. But C. Kirkii 

 is much smaller and much more slender, the leaves are almost filiform, and the 

 utricles are longer and narrower, with a much longer beak. In both species they 

 are strongly nerved, and minutely paj^illose all over. Kukenthal, in his recent 

 revision of the genus, places C. trachycarpa in the section Bracteosw, while C. Kirkii 

 and its allies are included in the subsection Australis of the section ArenaricB. But 

 to my mind the two species should be placed in close juxtaposition. This was also 

 the opinion of the late Mr. C. B. Clarke, as shown by his enumeration of the species 

 printed in the Kew Bulletin (" Additional Series," viii, 139). 



Plate' 214. Carex trachycarpa, drawn from specimens collected on the Mount Arthur Plateau, 

 Nelson, at an altitude of 4,500 ft. Fig. 1, male and female flowers (x 6) ; 2, male flowers (x6): 

 3, glume of female flower (x 6) ; 4, utricle (x 8) ; 5, longitudinal section of utricle (x 8). 



