a Transactions.—Botany. 
identification cannot be considered quite certain. C. muricata has a wide 
range in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America, but has not been 
previously recorded from the southern hemisphere. 
5. Carex cryptocarpa, n. sp. 
Small, densely tufted, glaucous-green. Culms short, 1-8 inches high. 
Leaves longer than the culms, 2-6 inches, concealing the flowers and fruit, 
flat, coriaceous, deeply-grooved, margins scabrid, tips incurved when dry. 
Bracts long, leafy. Spikelets 8-5, very closely approximate, ovoid or 
oblong, terminal one male, remainder all female, all sessile except the 
lowest, which is shortly pedunculate and sheathed. Glumes very broadly 
ovate or rounded, often as broad as long, reddish-brown or chestnut, acute, 
entire, margins thin and membranous, central portion 3-nerved, produced 
into an awn of variable length. Perigynia rather larger than the glumes, 
broadly ovoid or elliptic, unequally biconvex, swoollen on the back, nerved ; 
margins thick, serrate above; beak short, stout, 2-toothed. Stigmas 8. 
Nut trigonous. 
_ Hab. Lake Tekapo, Canterbury ; altitude 2,500 feet. 
This is closely allied to C. cirrhosa, Berggren, but appears to differ suffi- 
ciently in its larger size and stouter habit, broader glumes, larger and more 
turgid perigynia with a shorter beak and serrate margins, and in having 3 
stigmas. The nut is trigonous while it is lenticular in all the fruiting speci- 
mens of C. cirrhosa that I have examined. Old tussocks often present a 
very peculiar appearance. The centre dies out, leaving a hollow ring which 
grows on vigorously and often attains a considerable size. 
6. Carex uncifolia, n. sp. 
Small, tufted, usually of a dingy red colour. Stems very short, 1-2 
inches high, rarely more, smooth, erect or spreading. Leaves two or three 
times longer than the culms, narrow, ¿25 inch broad, convex on the 
back, concave in front, rarely plano-convex or quite flat, hooked or twisted 
at the apex when dry. Bracts long and leafy. Spikelets 2 or 8, rarely 4, 
very small, seldom more than i inch long and often much less, from the | 
shortness of the culms packed away at the base of the leaves and concealed 
by them, close together, sessile, terminal one male, slender, erect, remainder 
all female, spreading. Glumes reddish-brown with a green centre; those 
of the male spikelet the largest, lanceolate, acute or obtuse ; those of the 
female much shorter and broader, ovate, obtuse, acute or shortly cuspidate, 
entire at the tip. Perigynia rather larger than the glumes, dark red-purple, 
elliptic-oblong, trigonous or almost fusiform, smooth and even, acute at the 
base, narrowed upwards into a short 2-toothed beak, margins not serrate. 
Stigmas 8. 
