324 T. Holm — Studies in the CyperacecE. 



''Spicis 15-24 sexu distinctis cylindraceis mnltifloris evaginatis, 

 $ 1-6 inferioribus geminatis, 2 8-18 geminatis ternatisve raro 

 quinatis, superioribus saepe apice S inaequaliter longe peduncu- 

 latis pendulis longissime bracteatis, perigyniis subrotundo-ovatis 

 V. ellipticis obovatisve ore integro v. emarginato nervosis fer- 

 riigineo-punctatis squama ovata v. lanceolata trnneata v. 

 emarginata rarius acuta longe hispido-aristata brevioribus, 

 stigmatibus 2." 



A specimen of the variety pallida from South Island, 

 New Zealand, shows the inflorescence as follows. There 

 are three staminate and ten pistillate spikes ; the terminal 

 and two uppermost lateral are purely staminate, some- 

 what remote. Then follow the pistillate in four remote 

 whorls, subtended by long, f oliaceous bracts ; the upper- 

 most whorl consists of two spikes, the second and third 

 each of three, and the fourth, the basal, of two spikes ; of 

 these six of the upper ones are androgynous. 



This peculiar ramification of the inflorescence may at 

 a first glance look complicated, since the long peduncles 

 proceed from the shallow axils of the bracts, two or three 

 together. In the Carices genuinae we have generally 

 only one pistillate spike in the axil of each bract, sur- 

 rounded at the base by a small, more or less tubular leaf, 

 the so-called ochrea or vagina (Gay and Roeper), which 

 represents an organ homologous with Utriculus.'^ 



Now if we examine the base of the peduncles in C. 

 ternaria we notice two or three tubular, membranaceous 

 leaves of exactly the same structure and adorsed posi- 

 tion as an ochrea. When there are three spikes as in the 

 present specimen, one is generally almost sessile, and 

 stands before the two others; they actually occupy one 

 row between the main axis of the inflorescence and the 

 bract. The ochrea of the anterior, almost sessile, spike 

 is extremely small and thin, while those of the two long- 

 pedunculate spikes are larger, and quite distinct, some- 

 what distorted, however. How these axillary spikes are 

 developed, and in what order is extremely difficult to 

 decide from their position in C. ternaria. Because these 

 three ochreae call for a system of axes belonging to the 

 axil of a single bract. Nevertheless the arrangement of 

 these three axes, their successive development, becomes 



^ Compare this Journ., vol. 2, p. 215, 1896. 



