North Island: Mount Hikurangi, Adams and Petrie! Ruahine Range, Colenso, Petrie! Tararua Range, Buchanan! South Island: Abundant in mountain districts throughout. 1000–5500 ft. December—February.
A very variable plant. New Zealand specimens as a rule have rather paler and more acute glumes than is the case in the Australian U. compacta, constituting the U. divaricata of Boott. But I can see no other difference, and manv specimens are absolutely identical. Var. Petriei is connected with the type by numerous intermediates, between which it is impossible to draw a strict line of demarcation.
5. U. purpurata, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 272.—Culms tufted, slender or rather stout, scabrid above, leafy at the base, 6–14 in. high. Leaves usually shorter than the stems but sometimes equalling or even exceeding them, flat or slightly concave, grassy, striate, 120–112 broad; margins scabrid; sheaths at the base dusky-brown. Spike ¾–2 in. long, linear-oblong, usually dense, continuous. Male portion short, cylindric; bract absent, or present and exceeding the spike. Glumes oblong or obovate, obtuse or subacute, dark-brown with pale scarious margins, shorter than the utricle. Utricle lanceolate, tapering al both ends, plano-convex, quite glabrous, faintly nerved, about ¼ in. long; bristle nearly twice as long as the utricle.
Var. fusco-vaginata.—Leaves broader, 112–18 in. diam., equalling or overtopping the stems. Spike strict, linear, 1–1½ in. long; bract usually wanting. Glumes green or brown.—U. fusco-vaginata, Kukenthal in litt.
South Island: Otago—Not uncommon in mountain districts, Petrie! Kirk! Var. fusco-vaginata: Mount Arthur Plateau, T.F.C.; Mount Fyffe, Kirk! Arthur's Pass, Cockayne! T.F.C; Craigieburn Mountains, Cockayne! Mount Cardrona, Hector Mountains, Mount Ida, Petrie! 1000–4000 ft. December–January.
This appears to be intermediate between U. compacta and U. cæspitosa. The var. fusco-vaginata may be identical with U. compacta var. viridis, C. B. Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 395, of which I have seen no authenticated examples.
6. U. cæspitosa, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 287.—Culms tufted, slender, leafy, 6–14 in. high. Leaves longer or shorter than the culms, flat, grassy, very variable in width, from 115–18 broad; margins scabrid. Spike 1½–3 in. long, narrow-oblong or almost linear, rather dense or lax but not interrupted; male portion very short; bract variable, broad and foliaceous or narrow and setaceous. Glumes lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, membranous, green or pale-green, usually equalling the utricle. Utricles about ¼ in. long, oblong-lanceolate, suddenly narrowed above, smooth or faintlv nerved; bristle about twice the length of the utricle.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 310; C. B. Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 393. U. horizontalis, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 334.
