■121 Transaction*. — Botany. 



{Section I. Spikclet solitary, simple, terminal. 



1. C. pyrenaica, Wahl. in Act. Holm., 139; Boott, III. Car., iv., 148, 

 t. 475, 170; Hook. fil. /•'/. Nov. Zeal., i., 280; Handbook N.Z. Fl., 312. 



North Island. — Tops of the Kuahiuo Mountains, I 'olenso (tide " Hand- 

 book."') 



South Island.— Summit of Mount Arthur, Nelson, alt. 5,000-0,000 feet; 

 Baglan Range and mountains flanking the Wairau Valley, 5,000-0,000 feet ; 

 mountains above Arthur's Pass, Canterbury, alt. 3,500-0,000 feet ; Mount 

 Dobson, near Lake Tekapo, 5,000-0,000 feet, T.F.C. Mount Aspiring, 

 Otago, alt. 5,000 feet, D. Petrie ! 



Usually from 3 to 9 inches high, but taller specimens are sometimes 

 seen. The leaves are described by Hooker as " longer than the culms," 

 but this is only the case in the flowering stage, the culms elongating 

 considerably as the fruit ripens. All my New Zealand specimens have the 

 style nearly constantly 2-branched, in this respect differing from numerous 

 European and American specimens that I have examined, and in which the 

 style is nearly uniformly 3-branched. They thus approach the Australian 

 C. cephalotes, F.v.M., which, judging from examples kindly forwarded by 

 Sir Ferdinand Mueller, cau only be separated from our plant by the broader 

 and flatter, hardly stipitate perigynia, and might well be regarded as a 

 variety only. 



C. pyrenaica has an extensive range out of New Zealand. It is found 

 on the high lands of Northern and Central Europe, Northern Asia, and in 

 America along the line of the Kocky Mountains frorn Alaska to Utah and 

 Colorado. 



2. C. acicularis, Boott, in Hook. fil. Fl. Nov. Zeal., i., 280, t. 03 ; III. 

 Car., iv., 157, t. 508, f. 2 ; Hoolcfil. Handbk. N.Z. Flora, 312 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austral., vii., 437. C. archeri, Boott, in Hook. fil. Fl. Tasm., ii., 98, 1. 150 ; 

 III. Car., iv., 150, t. 508, f. 3. C. pyrenaica, F. Muell. Fragm., viii., 251, 

 not of Wahl. 



North Island. — Tops of the Kuahine Mountains, Colenso (Handbook). 



South Island. — Not uncommon in the mountains of Nelson and Canter- 

 bury, alt. 2000-5000 feet. Otago, mountains above Lake Harris, T. Kirk. 

 Also in Tasmania and Victoria. 



A well-marked species, easily distinguished from the preceding by the 

 strict and nearly terete leaves, shorter spikelets, and erect subulate bract. 

 It varies greatly in size, and in the number of flowers in the spikelets, but 

 its other characters appear to be fairly constant. 



Section II. Spikelets several or many, androgynous or rarely dioecious, 

 sessile, forming a compact or more or less interrupted sometimes paniculate 

 or decompound inflorescence. Stigmas 2. 



