278 CYPERACEAE, [ Carex. 
Norto Istanp: Auckland — Marshes at Lake Tongonge, near Kaitaia, rare, 
Rh. H. Matthews! H. Carse ! 
An Australian plant, ranging from Queensland to Victoria; also found in Japan. 
Mr. Matthews. who is the first to observe it in New Zealand, considers it to be 
indigenous, and there is nothing improbable in its occurrence in the extreme north of 
the Dominion. 
50. C. Oederi Retz. Fl. Scand. Prodr. (1779) 179; var. eataractae 
Kukenth. in Pflanzenr. Heft 38 (1909) 673.— Rhizome short, tufted. 
Culms tufted, smooth, trigonous with the angles somewhat acute, leafy, 
2-8in. high. Leaves usually longer than the culms in New Zealand 
specimens, yellow-green when dry, flat, ~,-$im. broad, spreadimg or 
recurved ; margins slightly scabrid. Spikelets 3-8, yellow-green, closely 
approximate or rarely the lowest remote ; terminal one (rarely two) male, 
slender, +2 in. long; remainder all female but usually with a few male 
flowers at the top, ovoid or roundish, +4in. long, squarrose, sessile or 
the lowest sometimes peduncled; bracts long, leafy, spreading. Glumes 
ovate, obtuse, membranous; margins pale, sometimes hyaline. Ubtricles 
much exceeding the glumes, spreading or deflexed, ovoid, trigonous, in- 
flated, strongly ribbed, pale yellow-green, suddenly narrowed into a long 
slender scabrid 2-toothed beak. Styles 3. Nut obovoid, trigonous.— 
(. cataractae R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 242; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. 1 (1860) 101, 
t. 151; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 315 ; Boott Ill. Car. iv (1867) 204. C. flava 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 444; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 
439; Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 835. : 
Sourn Istanp, SrewarT IstAnD: Mountain districts from Nelson southwards, 
usually in mountain-swamps. Generally from 1500 to 3500 ft., but descends to 
sea-level in Stewart Island and several scattered localities on the mainland. Decem- 
ber—February. or 
o re 
It is quite an unsettled question whether the two plants known as C. Hava and 
C. Oederi should be kept as distinct species or as varieties. In the first edition of 
this work I followed the opinion of Mr. C. B. Clarke in uniting them. C. Oederi mainly 
differs from ©. flava in the smaller size and shorter nearly straight beak to the utricle. 
It is little more than a matter of taste as to how the two plants should be dealt 
with. Kukenthal’s undoubted experience with both of them in the Northern Hemi- 
sphere, where they are plentiful, has mainly induced me to follow his views. The 
variety cataractae is not uncommon in the Southern Hemisphere, being known from 
New Zealand, Tasmania, South Africa, and temperate South America. 
JV acrHans 
51. ©. vacilans Sol. ex Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 285.— 
Culms tufted, slender, weak, triquetrous with the angles scabrid, leaty, 
10-18 in. high, Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, $-}in. broad, 
flat or keeled towards the base, striate, usually with a conspicuous nerve 
on each side of the stout midrib; margins and midrib beneath sharply 
scabrid. Spikelets 4-9, 1-3 in. long, about }in. broad, bright red-brown ; 
terminal 1-3 male, sometimes mixed with a few female flowers ; remainder 
female, usually with a few male flowers at the base, the two or three lower 
ones remote, nodding, on long filiform peduncles, the upper ones closer 
together and on shorter stalks or subsessile; bracts long, leafy. Glumes 
ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, entire, gradually narrowed into a 
short or rather long awn, red-brown; margins paler, often lacerate. 
Utricles usually longer than the glumes, stipitate, fusiform, triquetrous, 
conspicuously costate-nerved, red-brown, narrowed into a long slender 
beak with 2 acute teeth. Styles 3. Nut elliptic-oblong, whitish, trigonous. 
—Boott Ill. Car. iv (1867) 202 ; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z, Fl. (1864) 317; Cheesem. 
