Cheeseman. — Revision of the N.Z. Species of Carex. 441 



In the opinion of many botanists, C. forsteri ought not to be separated, 

 save as a variety, from the plant named C. fascicularis by Solander. The 

 two were kept as distinct by the late Dr. Boott in his account of the genus 

 given in the " Flora of New Zealand," but were united by Sir J. D. Hooker 

 in the "Handbook." Sir Ferd. von Mueller, in the eighth volume of his 

 "Fragmenta," adopts Hooker's views as to the identity of C. forsteri and C. 

 fascicularis, and reduces both to the widely distributed C. pseudo-cyperus, L. ; 

 and in this he is apparently followed by Mr. Bentham (" Flora Australi- 

 ensis, 7, p. 449). With the reduction of C. fascicularis to C. pseudo-cyperus 

 I perfectly agree ; but at present I am not prepared to adopt similar 

 views with respect to C. forsteri. After an examination of numerous 

 specimens from both Islands, and a comparison with New Zealand, 

 Australian, and European examples of C. pseudo-cyperus, it appears 

 to me that C. forsteri differs in several prominent characters. Its 

 habit is by no means the same, being nearer that of C. vaccilans, but 

 stouter ; the leaves are harsher and more rigid, differing much from the 

 soft and grassy foliage of C '. pseudo-cyperus ; the spikelets are much more dis- 

 tantly placed, the males being often two or three in number ; and the peri- 

 gynia are smaller and broader, with much shorter beaks. The plant 

 described by me as C. cinnamomea (a name, by the way, preoccupied by a 

 North American species), I am now convinced must be reduced to C. 

 forsteri. It is usually of a more slender habit, with longer awned glumes, 

 bright red-brown spikelets, and still smaller perigynia with shorter, obscurely- 

 toothed beaks. 



40. C. pseudo-cyperus, L. Species Plant., 1387 ; Kunth Enum., ii., 

 501 ; F. Muell. Fragm., viii., 249; Benth. Flora Austral., vii., 448; Boott, 

 III. Car., iv., t. 451, 452. C. fasciadaris, Sol. ex Boott in Hook. fit. Fl. 

 Nov. Zeal, l, 283 ; Boott, III. Car., I, t. 139, 140. 



North and South Islands. — Abundant throughout, in marshes or swampy 

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



This is the C. forsteri, /3 minor and -/fascicularis of the Handbook. As 

 stated in the remarks to the preceding species, I quite agree with Mueller 

 and Bentham in uniting it with the northern C. pseudo-cyperus. The spe- 

 cies, in some of its forms, is found in Europe, Western and Southern Asia, 

 North and South Africa, North and South America, and in Australia. 



Addendum. 



In addition to the above species, Mr. Kirk* has added C. chlorantha, 



Br., a common Australian and Tasmanian plant closely allied to C. panicu- 



lata. His specimens were gathered, some years ago, in a locality within 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. x., appendix, p. 42. 



