Cladium.} CLII. CYPEKACEiE. 1793 



speoimens acutely 4-angled, the inner leaf reduced to a long sheath with a short 

 lamina. Panicle oblong or thyrsoid, dark brown, 1^ to 4in. long, dense 

 throughout or interrupted at the base. Outer bract a loose membranous sheath 

 with a short erect point, the others gradually smaller and more glume-like. 

 Spikelets sessile, usually numerous, 2 to 2^ lines long, with 1 hermaphrodite 

 flower. Glumes membranous, keeled, acutely acuminate, ciliate, usually 3 

 empty, the outer one short, and a small glume either empty or enclosing a male 

 flower above the flowering glume and within it. Stamens 8. Nut obovoid, 1^ 

 line long, marked with raised ridges or reticulation, shortly smooth at the base, 

 crowned by the more or less distinct adnate base of the style. — Boeckel. in 

 Linnsea, xxxviii. 235 ; Lepidosperma tetragona, Labill. PI. Nov. Holl. i. 17, t. 17. 



Hab.: About WaUangarra, 



Var.: planifnlium. Leaves flat, 1 to 2 lines broad, strongly striate, with a prominent midrib 

 on each side. Inflorescence, bracts, 1-flowered spikelets, nuts, etc.,. quite as in the normal 

 C. tetraqiietntm, except that the spikelets are almost clustered, ajproaohirig those of C. 

 glomeratum. 



Hab.: About WaUangarra. " 1 



6. C. SChCBnoides (Schcenus-like), B.. Br. Prod. 237 ; Bevth. Fl. Aiistr. vii.. 

 407. Stems Gin. to 1ft. or rarely IJft. high, more or less flattened. Leaves at 

 the base of the stem equitant, longer or shorter, vertically flattened, striate but 

 without any raised midrib, rigid, straight or falcate, very acute, rarely above 

 1 line broad. Panicle narrow, 1 to l^in. long, almost spikelike but flexuose and 

 interrupted. Lower bracts with a short sheath and erect rigid acute lamina,, 

 sometimes very short, sometimes 1 to 2in. long, the upper bracts gradually 

 smaller and more glume-like. Spikelets few, somewhat clustered, all sessile 

 about 2 lines long, 1-flowered. Glumes acute or acuminate, erect, slightly 

 striate, scarcely ciUate, 3 outer ones empty of which the lowest short, and above 

 the flowering glume and enclosed in it a small empty one rarely including a male, 

 flow.er. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut ovoid, very slightly compressed,, 

 very obtiise, dark-coloured, about 1 line long, smooth and shining when ripe,, 

 and often hanging by the persistent filaments as in several Oahnim. — Hook. f. 

 Fl. Tasm. ii. 96; Schcenus aeutus, Labill. PI. Nov. Holl. i. 1.8, t. 18 ; S.falcatus, 

 Nees in Sieb. Agrostoth. n. 18 ; Baumea schmiioides, Boeckel. in Linnsea, xxxviii. 

 246. 



Var.. elongatum. Stems and leaves often 1ft. or more, the panicle longer, the outer sheathing, 

 bract with a very short lamina. 

 Hab,:' Moreton Island, F. v. Mueller. 



7. C. Gunnii (after D. . Gnnn), Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 95, t. 148 ; Beiith. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 407. Stems slender but rigid, terete, from under 1 to 2£t. high or 

 even more, leafless except sheathing scales at the base or with one long terete 

 stem-like leaf and occasionally a few similar radical leaves intermixed in the 

 tuft. Panicle narrow, interrupted, with few erect branches, sometimes almost 

 spike-like. Lower sheathing bract with a short subulate or rarely a longer leaf- 

 like point, the upper ones gradually smaller and more glume-like. Spikelets- 

 sessile, distinct, somewhat distant, 1-flowered. , Glumes father rigid, erect at 

 first but spreading when in fruit, .the flowering-one narrow lanceolate, acutely- 

 acuminate, often 3 lines long, 2 outer empty ones shorter broader with fine 

 points, the terminal empty glume very small or deficient. Stamens 3. Nut 

 ovoid, at first prominently. 3-ribbed, quite smooth and shining when ripe^. 

 tipped with the small adnate base of the style. — Boeckel. in Linnsea, xxxviii. 

 235; F. V. M. Fragm. ix. 15; C. laxiflonim., Hook. f. \.o.;Gahnia sulcata, 

 F. V. M. First Gen. Eep. 20; Schcenus pimctatus, Nees in Sieb. Agrostoth. n.. 

 19 ; S. nudics, Steud. Syn. Glum. ii. 163 ; Cladhrii nudum, Boeckel. in Linnsea,. 

 xxxviii. 236. 



Hab. : About WaUangarra. 



The species is also in New Zealand. 



