Cyperacee. | FLORA OF TASMANIA. 83 
distichis acutiusculis, setis hypogynis sub-6, nuce late elliptico-ovata trigona levi alba stylo basi non 
incrassato persistente terminata.—//. N. Zeal. i. 274. t. 62 A. C. mniaroides, Muell. in Herb. Hook. 
Helothrix pusilla, Nees, in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 457. (Gunn, 974.) 
Has. Marshy places near Penquite, Gunn, and probably common elsewhere in the Colony.—(Fl. Dec.) 
DisrarB. New South Wales: Alps of Victoria, Mueller ; Swan River, Drummond ; New Zealand. 
Culms prostrate, rooting at the base, slender, laxly tufted, 2-5 inches long, sparingly branched, compressed. 
Leaves alternate, patent, distichous, 1-2 inches long, concave above, with grooved, convex backs. Spikelets much 
smaller than in C. imberbis, axillary, solitary or two together, pedicelled or almost sessile, pale, about + inch 
long, of four or six compressed, smooth, nerveless, ovate-lanceolate, subacute scales. Hypogynous bristles short, 
scabrid. Nut white, smooth, broadly elliptical-ovate, trigonous, with a persistent style. : 
Gen. IV. GYMNOSCH(ENUS, Nees. 
Spicule in capitulum terminale late bracteatum densissime congeste, breves, 1-2-flore; squamis 
distichis, extimis minoribus, vacuis. Sete hypogyn 3, filiformes. Stylus 3-fidus, basi pubescens.—Herbw 
rigide, robuste ; culmis erectis, cespitosis, radicibus crassis; foliis omnibus radicalibus, rigidis, coriaceis, 
lineari-elongatis, curvis; capitulo magno, spherico ; spiculis rachi incrassata sessilibus. 
There are two described species of this genus, both South-eastern Australian. They have the technical cha- 
racters of the spikelets and flowers of Schenus, but differ so remarkably in habit and inflorescence from that genus, 
that there can be no doubt as to the propriety of keeping them distinct from it. G. spherocephalus consists of a 
dense mass of tall, very rigid, tufted, smooth, polished culms and leaves, 2-3 feet high. Old plants form short 
caudices a foot high, from the summit of which the culms and leaves spread in all directions.—Rhizome very 
stout, sending down thick, tortuous fibres, as stout as a small quill. Base of the culm as thick as the little finger, 
covered with dark-brown, grooved, coriaceous leaf-sheaths, 2-3 inches long, whose margins are more or less woolly. 
Leaves a foot or more long, much longer than the culm, tortuous, rigid, narrow-linear, 4 inch broad, convex, not 
grooved at the back, broadly concave in front. Scape or culm 3-5 feet long, compressed, perfectly smooth, rigid, 
solid, not jointed and naked. Capitulum 2 inch in diameter, perfectly glabrous, of very numerous, short, sessile 
spikelets, set round a central, thickened axis. Bracts coriaceous, very broadly rounded, ovate, three or five at the 
base of the capitulum, and three or four placed amongst the spikelets; one or two sometimes bearing a short, flat, 
blunt lamina. Spikelets hard, radiating, 2 inch long, of five or six very coriaceous, yellowish scales, with brown- 
black margins and apices, distichous, but rather obscurely so; outer scales short, more membranous, quadrate, 
bifid, with broader membranous margins, truncate; inner broadly ovate, very concave, obscurely keeled, smooth, 
not nerved. Stamens three, with short filaments, and large, broad, mucronate anthers. Style with a long, conical, 
pubescent base, jointed? on the ovary, which is elongate. Stigmas three. Hypogynous bristles three, scabrous, 
very slender. (Name from yupvos, naked, and oxowos, a Rush ; in allusion to the long leafless culms ?) 
1. Gymnoschenus sphaerocephalus (Hook. fil); foliorum vaginis lanatis, culmis compressis, 
capitulo globoso terminali, bracteis cum spiculis immixtis iis equilongis late orbiculatis ovatisve obtusis, 
spiculis bifloris.—G. adustus, Nees, in Ann. Nat. Hist. vi. p. 47. Chetospora spherocephala, Br. Prodr. 
233. Xyris levis, Sieber, 204 (non Br.). (Gunn, 952.) (Tas. CXLII.) 
Has. Abundant in marshes, in the poorest soil, in many parts of the Island: Lake St. Clair, and 
thence to Macquarrie Harbour; Circular Head, etc., Gunn.—(Fl. Nov.-Jan.) 
DisrRiB. New South Wales and Victoria. 
Prag CXLII. Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, bract; 3, scales of spikelet; 4, stamen; 5, pistil :—all magnified. 
Gen. V. CHORIZANDRA, Br. 
Spicule in capitulum laterale bracteatum densissime congests, late obovatee, compresse, multiflora ; 
