XI. CYPEltACE.35. 
297 
Spikelets of 2 1 -flowered deciduous glumes. Nut on a naked scape. 
Tufted, rigid, low, dense herb, with subulate leaves 12. Oreobolus. 
B. Spikelets solitary or numerous, many-flowered. Flowers unisexual. 
Female utricle with an ovary and long hooked bristle 13. TJncinia. 
Female utricle with an ovary only, or rarely with one straight bristle 14. Carex. 
1. CYPERUS, Linn. 
Rhizomes creeping or tufted. Culms erect, leafy or leafless. Leaves va- 
rious. — Spikelets compressed, many-flowered, very variously disposed, solitary 
or numerous, often umbellate ; umbels involucrate. Glumes numerous, dis- 
tichous, much compressed, all or most floriferous. Stamens 3. Bristles 0. 
Nut 3-quetrous ; style deciduous, not jointed nor tumid at the base. Stig- 
mas 3. 
A most extensive, chiefly tropical genus, extending sparingly into the temperate zone. 
1. C. ustulatus, A. Rich.; — Fl. N. Z. i. 268. Tall, coarse, leafy, 
2-4 ft. high. Culms usually 3-gouous, stout, smooth, in. diam. Leaves 
long, keeled, coriaceous, margins serrulate or rough. Involucre of many 
grassy leaves, 6-12 in. long. Umbels of 6-10 long or short rays. Spikelets 
1 in. long, densely arranged in oblong spikes, ^-1 in. long, dark red-brown, 
sessile, suberect. Glumes 6-20, broadly oblong, obtuse or mucronate, sulcate, 
convex at the base, shining. Nut oblong, narrowed at both ends, dark- 
brown. — A. Rich. Flor. 101. t. 17. 
Abundant in marshes throughout the Northern and Middle Islands, Banks and, Solan- 
der, etc. 
2. SCHCENLTS, Linn. 
( Including Ch/etospora, Br) 
Tufted or creeping plants, often rigid, with long or short culms and usually 
creeping rhizomes. Leaves narrow or 0. — Spikelets usually few, panicled 
fascicled or crowded, compressed, rarely nearly terete. Glumes few, disti- 
chous, rarely imbricate all round the rachis, usually convex at the back, often 
hard and brown, lower empty, upper 2 or 3 floriferous. Stamens 3. Bristles 
0 or 3-6, usually seabrid, rarely plumose. Nut compressed or 3-gonous ; 
style continuous with its top, not jointed nor swollen. Stigmas 2 or 3. 
A very widely-diffused genus in the temperate zones of both hemispheres. The species 
with terete spikelets are with difficulty distinguished from Scirpus, except by habit and the 
fewer flowers. 
Spikelets solitary, compressed. Glumes obviously distichous. 
Small, usually creeping, leafy. Spikelets axillary, subsolitary . . . . 1 . S. axillaris. 
Spikelets distinctly compressed , panicled fascicled or crowded. 
Culms 1-2 ft. Spikelets panicled, 1 in. long. Bristles 0 2. 6'. tenax. 
Culms 1-2 ft. Spikelets panicled, 4 in. long. Bristles very short . . 3. S. Tendo. 
Culms 1-3 ft. Spikelets panicled, 4 in. long. Bristles 6, long ... 4. S. pauciflorus. 
Culms 4-12 in. Spikelets crowded, -g — to i Q - Bristles 6, long . . . 5 . S. Brownii. 
Spikelets terete or obscurely compressed. Glumes obscurely distichous. 
Culms 1-2 in. Spikelet solitary. Bristles 6, simple 6. S. concinnus. 
Culms 2-10 in. Spikelets crowded. Bristles 6, plumose 7 . S. nitens. 
