Prodr. 221; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 104; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 272; Raoul, Choix, 40; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 270; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 301.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 2000 ft. November–February.
Also found in Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island, temperate Australia, extratropieal South Africa, St. Helena and Amsterdam Islands, and temperate South America.
10. S. frondosus, Banks and Sol. ex Boeck. in Flora, lxi. (1878) 141.—Stout, rigid, harsh, yellow-green, 2–3 ft. high. Rhizome thick, woody, creeping, often many feet in length. Stems many along the rhizome, stout, erect, obtusely trigonous, leafy at the base. Leaves very numerous, spreading, often curved, rigidly coriaceous, channelled above, keeled beneath, gradually narrowed into long trigonous points, at the base expanded into broad membranous sheaths; margins and keel sharply denticulate. Inflorescence 3–9 in. long or more, of linear clusters of densely crowded sessile spikelets arranged in a spiral manner around the upper part of the stem, each cluster subtended by a rigid linear bract similar to the leaves. Spikelets red-brown, almost globose, about ⅛ in. long, many-flowered. Glumes broadly ovate, obtuse, concave, shining, striate. Hypogynous bristles wanting. Stamens 3; anthers with a long awn. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly obovoid, compressed, quite smooth.—Isolepis spiralis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 105, t. 19; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 274; Raoul, Choix, 40. Desmoschœnus spiralis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 272; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 303. Anthophyllum Urvillei, Steud. Cyp. 160.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Abundant on sand-dunes from the North Cape to Otago. Pingao. November–February.
The leaves were formerly used by the Maoris for making kits, and occasionally for cloaks, which were said to be very durable.
11. S. americanus, Pers. Syn. i. 68.—Rhizome creeping. Stems rather slender, 1–2 ft. high, acutely trigonous. Leaves 1–4, always shorter than the stem; sheaths long. Head small, of 1–4 closely compacted sessile spikelets; bract 1–2 in. long, erect, angular, continuous with the stem so that the head appears lateral. Spikelets broadly ovoid, ¼–⅓ in. long, dark-brown, many-fiowered. Glumes broadly ovate, membranous, concave, tip emarginate with usually a short awn in the notch, margins scarious above. Hypogynous bristles 4–6, shorter than the nut. Stamens 3. Style-branches 2–3. Nut rather large, ⅔ the length of the glume, obovoid, planoconvex, pale-brown, smooth.—S. pungens, Vahl. Enum. ii. 255; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 333. S. triqueter, R. Br. Prodr. 223; Hook, f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 269; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 300 (not of Linn.). S. novæ-zealandiæ, Col. in
Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 277.
