Gahnia.~\ 
XI. CYPEKACE.'E. 
307 
cessively long and foliaceous. Spikelets in dense ovoid fascicles, |-1 in. 
long, narrow-lanceolate, very shortly pedicelled, turgid. Glumes rather coria- 
ceous, obscurely distichous, very concave, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, all 
awned, lower shorter. Stamens 3, filaments scarcely lengthening after flower- 
ing. Nut elliptic-oblong, subacute, black, polished, obscurely 3-gonous, not 
transversely grooved within . — Morelotia Ga/inicpformis, Gaudichaud, in Freyc. 
Yoy. 416. f. 28. 
Northern and Middle Island: common on hills, sandy shores, etc.,' Banks and Bo- 
lander, etc. Very near a Sandwich Island species. 
11. LEPIDOSPEBMA, Labill. 
Culms tufted, erect, from a stout creeping rhizome, very rigid, compressed 
terete angled or flat and leaf-like, with cutting edges, leafy at the base only. 
Leaves usually equitant, rigid, cutting. — Spikelets small, in rigid branched 
compressed spikes or panicles, 1- or 2 -flowered, with an awned bract at the base. 
Glumes few, imbricating all round the rachis, brown, rigidly coriaceous, the 
upper 1 or 2 floriferous, lower flower alone fertile. Stamens 3. Hypogynous 
scales 6, thick, very small, adnate to the base of the nut. Nut coriaceous or 
osseous, terminated by the base of the style. 
A very large Australian and Tasmanian genns, of which a few species are found in New 
Zealand and the Malay Islands, China, and Ceylon. 
Culms and leaves 3- or 4-angled 1 . L. ietrayona. 
Culms and leaves flat . 2. L. concava. 
1. L. tetragona, Labill. FI. Nov. Boll. t. 17. — L. australis , Hook. f. 
FI. N. Z. i. 279. Culms tufted, 1-li ft. high, irregularly 3- or 4-angled, 
very rigid, smooth. Leaves rigid, 2-8 in. long, 3- or 4-angled. Spikelets 
crowded, forming a short, oblong, terminal head \ in. long; bract short, 
sheathing, with a subulate erect point. Spikelets nearly | in. long. Glumes 
6-8, very coriaceous, acuminate, lower awned, terminal floriferous. Stamens 
and stigmas 3. Scales connate into a small 6-lobed cup. Nut with a tumid 
top. — Vauthiera australis, A. Rich. FI. 107. t. 20. 
Northern Island : banks of lakes, etc , common, Banks and Sol under, etc. Middle 
Island: Nelson, Sinclair Akaroa, Raoul. A native of Australia and Tasmania. 
2. Xj, concava, JBr. — L. longitudinalis. Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 279, not 
Labill. Culms flat, 3-4 ft. high, i in. broad, with scabrid cutting edges, 
thin, concave on one side. Leaves flat like the culms, acujninate. Panicle 
erect, rigid, sparingly branched, 2-3 in. long ; branches distant ; bract acute, 
spathaceous. Spikelets few, short, in appressed fascicles of 2 or 3 within an 
awned bract, 1-flowered. Glumes ovate, puberulous, rough on the back, 
awned. Stamens 3. Scales minute, connate. Nut obovate, terminated by 
the tumid base of the style. — FI. Tasm. i. 91 . t. 146 B ; L. elatior, A. Cunn. 
not Br. 
Northern Island : not uncommon in clay hills and Bay of Islands, Cunningham ; Auck- 
land, Sinclair. A native of Australia and Tasmania. 
X 2 
