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214 CYPERACEAE. [Kyllinga. 
1. KYLLINGA Rottb. \ 77%. 
Stems slender, simple, erect, leafy at the base. Spikelets small, numer- 
ous, compressed, 1—3-flowered, densely crowded in 1-3 ovoid or cylindric 
terminal heads or spikes subtended by 2-6 unequal linear leaf-like bracts. 
Glumes 4-7, distichous ; the two lowest small, empty; the next, or rarely 
the two next, hermaphrodite and fruit-bearimg ; the upper ones male or the 
uppermost smaller and empty; in fruit the rhachilla falls away above the 
two lowest glumes. Hypogynous scales wanting. Stamens 1-3. Style 
continuous with the ovary, not thickened at the base ; branches 2, filiform. 
Nut laterally compressed, smooth. 
A genus of about 50 species, widely spread through the warmer regions of both 
hemispheres, but not found in Europe. 
Ep, -1. K. brevifolia Rotib. Desc. et Ic. (1773) t. 4, f. 83—Rhizome creeping, 
elongate. Stems numerous from the rhizome, slender, 4-12in. high or 
more. Leaves flat, grassy, usually shorter than the stems, #,-{1n. broad. 
Bracts usually 3, spreading, similar to the leaves. Spikes solitary or rarely 
2-3 together, broadly ovoid, greenish, $-$in. long. Spikelets about 4 in. ; 
fertile flower usually solitary. Glume of fertile flower ovate, mucronate, 
eglandular, keeled ; keel not winged above, 3-nerved ; sides of glume with 
3-4 striae. Stamens 2. Nut eilipsoid, pale yellow-brown, about } as 
long as the glume.—C. B. Clarke i Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi (1893) 588 ; 
Ill. Cyp. t. 1, £. 1-4; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 764. K. mono- 
cephala Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xi (1879) 434 (not of Rottb.). 
Common in most warm countries, and possibly only naturalized in New Zealand. - 
It is very closely allied to the equaily abundant K. monocephala, to which I formerly 
referred it, but which can be distinguished by the glume of the fertile flower having 
the upper part of the keel winged or crested and more or less glandular. 
Kermapec Istanps: W. R. B. Oliver! Norra Istanp: From Ahipara and 
Mangonui northwards to the North Cape, W. 7. Ball! T. F. C., H. Carse! Also 
naturalized near the North Manukau Head. Lovomnandel pastures 
2. CYPERUS Linn. \73S. 
Annual or more commonly perennial herbs. Stems erect, simple below 
the inflorescence. Leaves at the base of the stem, usually long, the 
lowest sometimes reduced to sheaths. Inflorescence umbellate or capitate, 
often large and compound; bracts at the base long, leaf-like, spreading. 
Spikelets oblong or linear, compressed ; rhachilla persistent. Glumes usually 
many, distichous; the two lowest empty; four at least and generally 
many of the succeeding ones hermaphrodite and fruit-bearing, falling away 
from the rhachilla one by one, commencing with the lowest ; the uppermost 
1-3 sterile or empty. Stamens 2-3, rarely 1. Style continuous with the 
ovary, not thickened at the base; branches 3, filiform. Nut triquetrous 
or plano-convex, the flat face against the rhachilla, surface smooth. 
A large genus of over 375 species, most abundant in the tropical and subtropical 
districts of both hemispheres, comparatively rare in temperate regions. The two New 
Zealand species are widely distributed; one of them is certainly a recent introduction, 
and possibly the other as well. ; 
Small, 1-3 in. high. Inflorescence of a single head; spikelets 1-3 1. C. tenellus, 
Tall, 1-2 it. high. Inflorescence in a compound umbel ; spikelets 
very numerous .. ; 2. C. vegetus. 
The tropical C. rotundus Linn., easily recognized by the black ovoid tubers on the 
creeping stolons, and hence frequently known by the name of “ nut-grass,” has become 
naturalized in the vicinity of Auckland. It is a most pernicious weed. 
