440 Transactions. — Botany. 



Smith Island. — Ainuri, T. Kirk ! Southern Alps, Sinclair and Haast 

 (Handbook) ; Canterbury Plains, T. Kirk ; Lakes Tckapo and Alexandrina, 

 and by the Tasman River, T.F.C. ; Waitaki River, Haast ; Dunedin, 

 D. Pctrir ! Lake District of Otago, J. Buchanan ! Stewart Island, T. Kirl;. 

 Altitudinal range from sea-level to over 3,000 feet. 



I have followed Mr. Bentham in uniting the Tasmanian and New 

 Zealand C. cataract a with the northern C. flava ; the differences between 

 the two forms being hardly of specific value. New Zealand specimens 

 never seem to attain the size of European, and as a rule the spikelets are 

 much more closely compacted, and the perigynia smaller. In all my 

 specimens the beak of the perigynium is shorter than in the typical C. flava, 

 in this respect approaching the variety mleri, often kept as a distinct 

 species. Specimens from Swanport, Tasmania, kindly forwarded to me by 

 Baron Mueller, have indeed perigynia almost indistinguishable from those 

 of C. cederi, as is stated in the " Flora Australiensis ;" but I have not seen 

 any specimens collected in New Zealand that exactly match them. 



C. flava has a wide distribution ; being found through the greater por- 

 tion of Northern and Central Europe, in temperate North America, Madeira, 

 Western and Central Asia to the Himalaya Mountains, and in Tasmania. 



38. C. vaccilans, Sol., mss. ; Boott in Hook.Jil. Fl. Nov. Zeal., i., 285 ; 

 Handbk. N.Z. Flora, 317. 



North Island. — Not uncommon on declivities in dry woods, especially 

 near the sea. I have seen no specimens from the South Island. 



This is a handsome and in my opinion very distinct species. Sir J. D. 

 Hooker remarks (Handbook, p. 311) that it should perhaps be united with 

 C. dissita ; but the long and slender spikelets, narrow entire glumes, and 

 much longer and narrower fusiform beaked perigynia do not appear to show 

 any close alliance to that plant. In habit and in the shape of the perigynia 

 there is considerable resemblance to the next species, which has induced me 

 to place the two plants close together. C. vaccilans is, however, much 

 smaller in all its parts, and the perigynia do not spread when mature. 



39. C. forsteri, Wahl. in Act. Holm., 1803, 154 ; Boott in Hook.fil. Fl. 

 Nov. Zeal., i., 285 ; Hook. Jil. Handbk. N.Z. Flora, 315 (in part only). C. 

 debilis, Forst. Prodr., 92, -non Michx. C. recurva, Schkuhr Car., f. 84. C. 

 punctulata, A. Rich. Fl. Noiivelle Zel., t. 22. C. cinnamomea, Cheeseman, 

 Trans. N.Z. Inst., xiv., 301, not of Olney. 



North Island, — Whangarei Heads ; Thames Goldfields ; Raglan ; near 

 Gisborne, T.F.C. ; Wellington, T. Kirk. 



South Island. — Lower Motueka, Graham River, Wangapeka Valley, and 

 other localities in Nelson, T.F.C. Akaroa, T. Kirk. Altitudinal range 

 fxoin sea-level to 3,000 feet. 



