414 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. XL VII. — A Revision of the New Z ruin ml Species of Carex. 



By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., Curator of the Auckland Museum. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 12th November, 1883.] 

 The genus Carex, the largest among ( h/peracece, and indeed of the Glumifera 

 generally, is well represented in New Zealand, as in most temperate and 

 mountainous countries. In New Zealand, too, the species possess that 

 tendency to variability which has made their elucidation so difficult and 

 perplexing to the student of northern floras, and which, through the diverse 

 views entertained hy authors as to the amount of difference required for 

 specific distinction, has led to the needless multiplication of names, and 

 much confusion as to the limits and range of the species. Here, fortunately, 

 the creation of species out of mere varieties has not been so regularly and 

 consistently carried out ; although, as New Zealand naturalists are no more 

 likely than their European brethren to agree on the qucestio vexata of what 

 constitutes a species, a very similar result may be anticipated. Notwith- 

 standing this, the study of the genus in New Zealand has been beset with 

 serious difficulties, few of which have yet been removed. In some cases the 

 species have been described from insufficient material, the descriptions 

 being consequently incomplete and inexact ; in others the specimens were 

 from one or two localities only, and, although numerous, did not always 

 represent the predominant form of the species. Mistakes in the identifica- 

 tions have thus occurred, apart from the difficulty that is commonly ex- 

 perienced in recognizing, from descriptions alone, species of so variable a 

 genus as Carex. But it is hardly necessary to pursue this part of the sub- 

 ject further — all qualified persons are aware that considerable confusion 

 exists, and that the species are in urgent need of revision. The want of 

 confidence in their own conclusions, openly expressed by those who have 

 specially attended to the genus, may be taken as a fair proof of this state- 

 ment. 



Under these circumstances, I have ventured to prepare the following 

 re-arrangement of our species. Of its imperfections and deficiences, no one 

 can be more sensible than myself, — many of them are inseparable from the 

 pursuit of systematic botany in a country where there are no large public 

 herbaria and few scientific libraries ; and, as to the rest, I trust that they 

 are not more numerous than what might be expected to attach to the first 

 attempt made in the colony to revise the species of a difficult genus like 

 Carer. Such as it is, I can state that it is based upon the actual study in 

 the field of most of the species ; in addition to the conscientious examina- 

 tion of many hundreds of dried specimens from all parts of the islands, and 

 a comparison of these with allied plants from other parts of the world. 



