Carex. | CYPERACEAE. 259 
my revision of the New Zealand Carices, published in 1884, I therefore followed Baron 
Mueller and Mr. Bentham in placing all three under C. paniculata. But, as explained 
in the Manual, further consideration has led me to alter this opinion, and to keep the 
species separate. After all, the differences between the three plants are quite as well 
marked as those between several species of Carex admitted by most authors, and for 
the sake of consistency it appears best to uphold their distinctness. In addition to 
New Zealand C. appressa has been recorded from Queensland, New South Wales, 
Victoria, South Australia, West Australia, and Tasmania. Kukenthal has also identified 
two plants from New Caledonia with it. we Ce” <¢t ) AL, 
11. C. virgata Sol. ex Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 282.—Culms 
densely tufted, 1-3 ft. high, trigonous with the angles sharply scabrid, 
stooved, leafy at the base. Leaves numerous, much exceeding the culms, 
41in. broad, harsh and rigid, grooved, sharply keeled below, flat above ; 
margins scabrid with numerous sharp recurved denticles. Spikelets small, 
very numerous, few-flowered, androgynous with the male flowers at the 
top, arranged in a long and slender spike-like panicle 6-18 in. long ; 
primary branches of the panicle rigid, erect, closely appressed to the rhachis, 
the lower usually remote and sometimes conspicuously so. Glumes almost 
equalling the utricles, broadly ovate, acute or acuminate, concave, mem- 
branous, brown with a narrow pale line down the centre; margins not 
silvery. Utricle stipitate, ovoid or triangular-ovoid, often subcordate at 
the base, plano-convex, conspicuously many-nerved on both faces, con- 
tracted into a short 2-toothed beak; margins incurved, conspicuously 
ciliate-denticulate. Styles 2. Nut broadly ovoid, biconvex.—Boott Ill. 
Car. i (1858) 46, t. 121, 122; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 313; 
Cheesem. Man, N.Z. Fl. (1906) 814. C. collata Boott in Hook. Lond. Journ. 
Bot. iii (1844) 417 (name only). C. paniculata var. virgata Cheesem. in Trans. 
N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 427. C. appressa var. virgata Kukenth. in Pflanzenr. 
Heft 38 (1909) 179. 
NortH AND SoutH Istanps: Abundant in swamps from the Three Kings Islands 
to Foveaux Strait. I have seen no specimens from Stewart Island. AUCKLAND 
Istanps: A specimen collected by Hombron is referred to C. virgata by Kukenthal, 
but I am not aware of any other record. Sea-level to 3000 ft. November—January. 
Very close to C. appressa, but the culms are more slender and not so acutely 
triquetrous, the leaves are narrower, and the panicle much longer and narrower, and 
not so dense. It also occurs in both Australia and Tasmania. 
12. €. seeta Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 281.—A very large 
species. Rhizomes matted, often forming trunk-like masses 2-4 ft. high 
much resembling the stem of a tree-fern. Culms 2-4{ft., slender, 
inclined or drooping above, trigonous with the angles scabrid, grooved, 
leafy at the base. Leaves numerous, as long or longer than the culms, 
zo-+ in. broad, grooved, keeled below, flat above; margins scabrid. Spike- 
lets very numerous, pale-brown, small, few-flowered, androgynous with the 
male flowers at the top, arranged in a much and laxly branched often 
decompound nodding panicle 1-25 ft. long; the primary divisions usually 
very long and slender, much branched, the spikelets often remote on the 
branches. Glumes almost ‘equalling the utricles, broadly ovate, acuminate 
or cuspidate, thin and membranous, pale-brown with a paler line down the 
centre and scarious hyaline margins. Utricles rather smaller than those 
of C. virgata, shortly stipitate, broadly ovoid, turgid, plano-convex or 
unequally biconvex, polished and shining, quite smooth or very indistinctly 
nerved, contracted into a rather broad 2-toothed beak, the margins of which 
are ciliate-denticulate. Styles 2. Nut broadly oblong, biconvex. — II. 
OF 
