others. Female flowers with the ovary included in a flask-shaped organ called the utricle or perigynium; style long, protruding; branches 3, filiform. Rhachilla produced beyond the mouth of the utricle into a long bristle hooked at the tip. Nut trigonous or subcompressed, enclosed in the peristent more or less enlarged utricle.
A genus of about 30 species, found in Australia and Tasmania, New Zealand, and America from Mexico and the West Indies to Fuegia. Of the 12 species native in New Zealand, 4 extend to Australia and Tasmania, and 1 to South America, the remaining 7 are endemic. The genus only differs from Carex in the rhachilla being exserted beyond the utricle in the shape of a hooked bristle. The New Zealand species are highly variable and most difficult of discrimination. U. purpurata, cæspitosa, riparia, rupestris, and filiformis present an almost unbroken series of forms, and I doubt if any two observers would arrive at the same conclusions respecting them, even if they worked on the same material.
| Section A. Spike short and broad, ⅓–1 in. long, oblong or linear-oblong, dense-flowered. | |
| Culms 2–9 in., rather stout. Leaves shorter than the culms, 112–110 in. diam. Spike pale, ½–1 in. Utricle scabrid | 1. U. Sinclairii. |
| Culms 2–6 in., weak. Leaves longer than the culms, filiform, 130–120 in. diam. Spike pale, ⅓–½ in. Utricle very small, lanceolate | 2. U. tenella. |
| Culms 4–9 in., slender, strict. Leaves shorter than the culms, filiform, 140–130 in. diam. Spike brownish, ⅓–⅔ in. Utricles conspicuously nerved | 3. U. nervosa. |
| Culms 3–12 in., stout. Leaves flat, grasssy, 112–18 in. diam. Spike brown or chestnut-brown, ½–1 in. long. Utricles faintly nerved | 4. U. compacta. |
| Section B. Spike elongated, 1–6 in. long, linear or narrow linear-oblong, dense-flowered, continuous. | |
| Culms 6–14 in., stout or slender. Leaves flat, grassy; sheaths dusky-brown. Spike brownish, 1–2 in. Glumes oblong-obovate, usually obtuse | 5. U. purpurata. |
| Culms 6–14 in., slender. Leaves flat, grassy, 115–16 in. diam. Spike pale or green, 1½–3 in. Glumes oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate | 6. U. cæspitosa. |
| Culms 9–20 in., slender. Leaves flat, grassy, ⅛–¼ in. broad. Spike 3–6 in., linear-elongate. Glumes oblong-lanceolate, brownish | 7. U. australis. |
| Section C. Spike ½–4 in. long, linear, very slender, lax-flowered, usually interrupted towards the base. | |
| Culms 12–24 in., slender. Leaves flat, 112–110 in. diam. Spike 1½–5 in. Utricles distinctly scabrid above | 8. U. leptostachya. |
| Culms 9–20 in., slender. Leaves flat or slightly involute, 130–110 in. diam. Spike 1½–4in., green. Glumes always shorter than the utricles, in var. Banksii barely half their length | 9. U. riparia. |
| Everywhere red-brown. Culms 6–14 in., strict, rigid. Leaves usually shorter than the culms, flat or involute, 115–110 in. Spike 1–2 in., rigid. Glumes nearly as long as the utricles | 10. U. rubra. |
