Pj.ATE 217.— CAREX LITOROSA. 



Family CYPERACE^.] [Genus CAREX, Linn. 



Carex litorosa, Bailey ui Memoirs Torrey Club (1889), 72 ; Gheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 830. 



Carex litorosa appears to have been first collected by the late Mr. T. Kirk at 

 the Onehunga Springs, close to the shore of the Manukau Harbour, where it grows 

 in company with Mimulus repens and other brackish-water plants. It was shortly 

 afterwards observed by myself in salt marshes at Whangarei, Kaipara, Thames, 

 and Tauranga ; and by Mr. Petrie at Port Chalmers and on Stewart Island. It 

 has since been found by many collectors on various portions of the coast-line, and 

 is now known to be an abundant plant in brackish-water swamps from Whangarei 

 and the Kaipara Harbour southwards to Stewart Island. It was first published 

 by Mr. Petrie as C. littoralis ; but as tliat name had already been used for a North 

 American plant, Mr. L. H. Bailey suggested that of C. litorosa in its place. 



As to its relationships, C. litorosa is closely allied to the Stewart Island 

 G. longiculmis, also a brackish-water plant. But that species is much taller and 

 stouter, with flatter leaves quite twice the breadth of those of C. litorosa, and the 

 spikelets are much larger and stouter. In fact, C. longiculmis is conspicuously 

 larger in all its parts. C. comans is also related to it, but is smaller and much more 

 slender, and the habit is not nearly so strict. The utricles are also narrower, 

 almost piano - convex, and the margins are sharply serrate above, whereas they 

 are smooth in C. litorosa. 



Plate 217. Carex litorosa, drawn from specimens gathered at Onehxmga, near Auckland. Fig. 1, 

 male and female spikelets (x 2) ; 2, tip of bract (x 2) ; 3, male flower and its glume (x 8) ; 4, anther 

 (x 12) ; 5, female flower (utricle) and its glume (x 8) ; 6, glume from female flower (x 8) ; 7, longi- 

 tudinal section of utricle, showmg nut ( x 8) ; 8, cross-section near tip of utricle, showing the thickened 

 wall (enlarged). 



