412 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, 1-3 inches high. 

 Leaves longer than the culms, 2-6 inches, concealing the flowers and fruit, 

 fiat, coriaceous, deeply-grooved, margins scabrid, tips incurved when dry. 

 Bracts long, leafy. Spikelets 3-5, 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 3. 

 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. cirrJwsa 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, ^q— ^ mc h 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 3, rarely 4, 

 very small, seldom more than % 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 3. 



