XI. CYPERACEjE. 
303 
7. DESMOSCHCENITS, Hook. f. 
Culms tall, rigid, obtusely 3-gonous, tufted, erect from a stout, woody, 
scaly rhizome. Leaves squarrose, very harsh, margin scaberulous. — Inflo- 
rescence a span long, of clusters of sessile, red-brown, globose spikelets, spirally 
arranged round the culm, subtended by rigid squarrose subulate leafy bracts. 
Glumes numerous, imbricate all round the rachis, all or most floriferous. 
Bristles 0. Stamens 3 ; anthers with a terminal awn. Nut compressed ; 
style deciduous, not jointed at the base. Stigmas 3. 
A very remarkable plant, agreeing with Isolepis in the floral characters, but of most pecu- 
liar habit. 
1. D. spiralis, Hoolc. f. FI. N. Z. i. 272. Culms 1-3 ft. high, leafy 
at the base, glabrous, surmounted by a sort of malformed interrupted catkin, 
bearing long squarrose leafy wiry bracts, with decurrent bases. Leaves very 
numerous, concave, keeled, 3-gonous towards the long harsh poiuts ; margins 
cutting with minute teeth. Inflorescence a span long. Spikelets ^ in. long. 
Glumes concave, striated, obovate, obtuse, shining. Nut quite smooth, 
broadly obovate, obtuse. — Antliopliyllum Urvillei, Steud. Synops. PI. Cyp. 
160; Isolepis spiralis, A. Rich. Pi. 105. t. 19. 
Northern and Middle Islands, Banks and Solander, etc., not uncommon in sandy 
seashores, as far south as Canterbury. 
8. FTMBBJSTYLIS, Yahl. 
Culms tufted, usually rather soft, nearly terete or 3-gcnous, generally leafy 
below. Leaves grasslike. — Spikelets usually in terminal involucrate corym- 
bose or umbellate panicles, terete or angled. Glumes numerous, mostly 
floriferous, imbricated all round the rachis. Bristles 3. Stamen 1. Nut 
surmounted with the tuberous pilose or villous persistent base of the deci- 
duous style. Stigmas 2 or 3. 
A large tropical genus, rare in temperate climates. 
1. F. dichotoma, Vahl. — F. velala, FI. N. Z. i. 272, not Br. Culms 
densely tufted, annual, slender, leafy at the base, 4-8 in. high. Leaves very 
slender, shorter than the culms, flaccid, terete, grooved. Umbels with very 
many slender rays 1-2 in. long, surrounded with long involucral leaves. 
Spikelets b in. long, 3-5 on each ray, pedicelled or sessile, ovoid, pale- 
brown. Glumes numerous, spreading, narrow-lanceolate, acuminate ; keel 
scabrid. Stamen 1. Nut nearly orbicular, compressed, margins thickened, 
ci'owned with the bulbous base of the style, from which long hairs descend 
over its face. Stigmas 2. 
Northern. Island: Bay of Islands, Auckland, etc., Colenso, Sinclair. A common Aus- 
tralian tropical and subtropical weed, perhaps introduced into New Zealand. 
9. CLADIUM, Linn. 
Tufted, rigid sedges, of various habit. Culms leafy or leafless, erect, slender 
or stout, flat terete angled or compressed. — Spikelets generally panicled, often 
with leafy or spathaceous bracts, small, terete, 1-3-flowered. Glumes few, 
imbricated all round the rachis, mostly empty. Bristles or hypogynous scales 
