Carew. | CYPERACEAE. 269 
foaten t 
Soutu Istanp: Abundant in hilly and mountaingus ‘districts, throughout. Sea- 
level to 3500 ft. December—January. o<c bral ded. Coast a TN SE 
The chief characters of this species are the strict erect habit, semiterete leaves, 
pale-coloured glumes, and elliptic plano-convex utricles, the margins of which are serrate 
above. ‘The reddish-purple colour, which is often constant through large districts, is 
also seen in C. comans, C. Petriei, C. uncifolia, and others. It probably occurs in the 
mountainous centre of the North Island, but I have seen no specimens from thence. 
Kukenthal reduces it to C. lucida as var. Buchanani, a view with which I am unable 
to concur. C, Buchanani differs markedly in the much more strict and erect habit, in 
the semiterete and much more coriaceous leaves, in the pale-coloured glumes, and in 
the plano-convex utricles, which are sharply serrate above, and have a much longer and 
more deeply bidentate beak. Not only is the aspect of the plant most distinct, so that 
it can be recognized at a glance, but its characters appear to me to be fairly constant. 
Dr. Kukenthal remarks that it is connected with OC. lucida by numerous passage forms ; 
but I have not myself met with specimens that could be so described. I feel sure that 
all New Zealand botanists familiar with the plant will repudiate any proposal to 
associate it with CO. lucida. 
dl. C, eirrhosa Berggr. in Minneskr. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 29, 
t. 7, f, 27-34.—-A dwarf species forming compact glaucous-green or reddish 
tuits. Culms very short, densely packed, 1-14 in. high, leafy throughout. 
Leaves longer than the culms, narrow, flat or almost plano-convex, grooved ; 
tips obtuse, curled and twisted when dry; margins scabrid. Spikelets 4-5, 
approximate and almost concealed by the leaves, 4-4in. long; terminal 
one male, slender; remainder all female, with or without a few male 
flowers below, all sessile or the lowest very shortly peduncled ; bracts leafy. 
far exceeding the spikelets. Glumes ovate-lanceolate, entire, cuspidate, 
whitish-green with a darker midrib. Utricle about equalling the glumes, 
elliptic-ovoid, plano-convex, nerved, pale, narrowed into a rather long 
acutely bidentate beak; margins entire or minutely denticulate. Styles 2. 
Nut lenticular—Cheesem. in. Trans N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 485; Man. N.Z. 
Fil. (1906) 825; Kukenth. in Pflanzenr. Heft 38 (1909) 683. 
Var. lutescens Kukenth. in Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 825.— Culms taller, 
24 in. high. Spikelets longer and further apart, the lowest one sometimes remote. 
Utricle narrow-elliptic ; beak longer. 
SoutuH Istanp: Canterbury—Upper Waimakariri and Lake Lyndon, Berggren ! 
J. D. Hnys! T. Kirk ! Cockayne, T. F.C. December—February. 
A very peculiar little plant. Te (1947) Sa 5 
32. C. Berggreni Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii (1886) 297.—Small, 
reddish-brown or green, forming broad depressed tufts. Culms branched 
at the base, very short, stout, spreading, sheathed to the top by the leaves, 
3-1} in. high. Leaves spreading, exceeding the culms, 1-2 in. long, #44 in. 
broad, linear, quite flat, obtuse, deeply striate, coriaceous ; margins smooth 
or serrate above. Spikelets 2-3, small, 4-}in. long, usually approximate, 
all shortly peduncled or almost sessile, red-brown ; terminal one male; the 
remainder female; bracts short, broad. Glumes broadly ovate, obtuse or 
very shortly cuspidate, membranous, chestnut-brown, usually with a green 
midrib and paler margins. Uvtricles rather, longer than the glumes, elliptic, 
biconvex or obscurely trigonous, indistinctly nerved, dark red-brown or 
almost black above, paler towards the base; margins smooth; beak almost 
wanting, minutely bifid. Styles 2 or 3. Nut acutely trigonous.—Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z, Fl. (1906) 826; Kukenth. in Pflanzen. Heft 38 (1909) 685, t. 117. 
South Isntanp: Canterbury—Upper Waimakariri, Petrie; Arthur’s Pass, W. 
Martin ; margins of lagoons near the Cass River, Lake Tekapo, 7. F. 0. Otago— 
Mount Pisa, Old Man Range, Mount Kyeburn, Petrie / 2500-5000 ft. December- 
February. volte. BR. Basie Fir-- 
7 a 
'o. 
