Pi.Aii: 215. CAREX KAOULII. 



Family ('Y1'EKACK^.| [Uexus CAREX. Linn. 



Carex Raoulii, Boull in Hook. j. Fl. Nor. Ze\. i, 283 ; Chaemm. Man. N.Z. Fl. 821. 



Dr. M. E. Raoul, the talented naturalist attached to the French frigate 

 " L'Aube," was the first to collect the subject of this plate. " L'Aube " was 

 stationed at Akaroa to watch over the fortunes of the infant French colony which 

 it was hoped to found there, and during her stay of more than two years Raoul 

 was able to make an extensive collection of the plants of the district, amongst which 

 was the species now known as Carex Raoulii. Raoul does not appear to have 

 recognized its specific distinctness, for no mention is made of it in his " Choix des 

 Plantes de la Nouvelle Zelande," published in 1846 ; and it was first described by 

 Boott in 18.53 in Hooker's " Flora Novae Zelandise." In 1861 Dr. Sinclair and Sir 

 Julius von Haast collected it in the Rangitata Valley, Canterbury ; and shortly 

 afterwards it was gathered near Lake Wanaka, Otago, by Mr. J. Buchanan. During 

 the years 1881 to 1886 I found it not uncommon in many localities in the Nelson 

 Provincial District ; and it is now known to extend throughout the whole length 

 of the South Island, although I have seen no specimens collected on the western 

 side of the Southern Alps. Its altitudinal range is from 200 ft. to 3,000 ft. 



Carex Raoulii is one of the most distinct species of the genus found in New 

 Zealand, and can always be recognized at a glance. Its distinguishing characters 

 are the loose and open habit of growth, the comparatively broad and coarse flat 

 leaves, the terminal spikelet always partly female, and the elliptical strongly nerved 

 and serrate utricles. Mr. C. B. Clarke informs me that Raoul's original specimens 

 all have the utricles hairy on the upper half, as figured in this plate, but I have 

 not myself seen specimens showing this peculiarity. 



C. Raoulii has no very close allies, but, on the whole, is best placed in 

 the neighbourhood of C. dipsacea, C. testacea, and C. Wakatipu, which agree with 

 it in the oval or elliptic unequally biconvex utricle, with an obviously 2-toothed 

 beak ; and in the two stigmas. None of these plants, however, has the peculiar 

 habit of C. Raoulii, or has its terminal spikelet composed of both male and female 

 flowers. 



Plate 215. Carex Raoulii, drawa from specimens collected by the Graham River, Nelson. Fig. 1, 

 a spikelet, female flowers above, male below (x 2) ; 2, glume of male flower (x 8) ; 3, stamen (x 8) ; 

 i, glume oi female flower (x 8) , 5, utricle (x 8) ; 6, section of same, showing nut (x 8) ; 7, ripe uut 

 removed from the utricle (x 10). 



