Cyperacea. | FLORA OF TASMANIA. 89 
base. Swan River specimens are sometimes 5 inches high, with much larger spikelets. Young nuts are white, 
and acutely trigonous. New Zealand specimens are sometimes diandrous. Between the South African and Tas- 
manian individuals there is no difference whatever. This is certainly Brown’s J. cartilaginea, though the nuts are 
but very minutely punctulate, not “ scabriusculis,” as described in the * Prodromus,” a character which better agrees 
with Z. Saviana.—PrATE CXLV. 4. and B. Vars. a and y. Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, scale and flower; 8, nut :—all 
magnified. 
10. Isolepis riparia (Br. Prodr.); culmis cespitosis basi unifoliis v. vaginatis subsetaceis capillari- 
busve, spicula solitaria laterali v. terminali brevi ovata pauciflora, squamis 5-8 late ovatis obtusis subcari- 
natis triandris, nuce late obovata triquetra levi subtilissime punctulata, stigmatibus 3.—I. chlorostachya, 
Nees, fid. Herb. Reg. Berol. Y. pygmea, Kunth, En. ii. 191. (Gunn, 421, 1421, 1422, 1428, 1445.) 
(Tas. CXLV. C.) 
Has. Abundant in wet banks, ditches, rivers, marshes, etc.—(Fl. all the year.) 
Distris. Extratropical Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America. 
Best distinguished by the very slender, often capillary culms, solitary, very small, lateral, or rarely terminal 
spikelet, of few, broad, blunt, scarcely keeled scales, and by the small, broadly obovate, compressed, triquetrous nut, 
which is smooth or very minutely punctulate.—Culms 1-4 inches high, sometimes, when growing in shaded woods, 
6 inches, and then quite capillary, short and more rigid in alpine localities. Spikelets rarely terminal, J— inch 
long, pale yellow-green or chesnut-brown on the sides of the scales. —PLaTE CXLV. C. Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, scale 
and flower; 3, nut :—all magnified. 
Gen. IX. SCIRPUS, Z. 
Spicule versus apicem culmi solitariz aggregate v. paniculate ` squamis undique imbricatis, plerisque 
floriferis. Sete hypogyne squamis breviores. Wuv compressa v. trigona, stylo deciduo basi non incras- 
sato.—Culmi erecti, robusti, elongati, simplices, e rhizomate crasso ; foliis gramineis vaginaformibus v. nullis; 
spiculis magnis. 
The species of Scirpus are not numerous, but several are found in all temperate and many tropical parts of 
the globe. All are tall, water or marsh plants, with creeping rhizomes, and stout, erect, simple, generally leafy or 
leafless culms, bearing the inflorescence below the apex. About six Australian species are known, all of them 
natives of other countries.—Spikelets large, solitary, aggregate or panicled ; scales numerous, imbricated on all sides. 
Nut with hypogynous bristles. (Name supposed to be that used by the Greeks for this or some other marsh plant.) 
1. Scirpus triqueter (Linn. Mant. 29); culmo triquetro basi 1-2-phyllo, foliis acute carinatis, 
spiculis lateralibus solitariis v. dense glomeratis ovatis, squamis aristatis vel mucronatis apice fimbriatis.— 
Br. Prodr. 223; Eng. Bot. 1694; Fl. N. Zeal. i. 269. (Gunn, 1402.) 
Has. Near Hobarton, in brackish water, and probably elsewhere, commonly.—(Fl. Nov.) (v. v.) 
DisrriB. Extratropical Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and North Africa, and other temperate and 
subtropical countries. 
Culms 2-3 feet high, slender, trigonous, channelled down the front, with one or two trigonous.leaves at their 
base. Spikelets one or more, 3-1 inch long, ovate, dark red-brown. Scales membranous, oblong or ovate-lanceo- 
late, usually bifid at the apex, the lowest broadest, with a green mucro, the upper aristate, most of them fimbriate 
at the margin. Nut broadly oblanceolate or fusiform. Stigmas two or three. Sete three, longer than the nut, 
beset with strong recurved bristles. Stamens with a rough terminal mucro. 
2. Scirpus maritimus (Linn. Sp. Pl. i. 74); culmo triquetro folioso, foliis gramineis culmum su- 
perantibus, spiculis subcorymbosis sessilibus pedunculatisque, involucro polyphyllo, squamis scariosis bifidis 
integerrimisve, nuce trigona.— Br, Prodr. 224; Eng. Bot. t. 542; Fl. N. Zeal. i. 268. (Gunn, 419.) 
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