Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/839

Uncinia.]

CYPERACEÆ.

799

Culms 3–12 in., slender. Leaves usually shorter than the culms, flat, 1/25–1/15 in. diam. Spike ½–1½ in. Glumes brown or chestnut, almost as long as the utricle	11. U. rupestris.
Culms 3–9 in., very slender. Leaves usually longer than the culms, filiform, convolute, 1/50–1/30 in. diam. Spike ½–1½ in., extremely slender. Glumes pale, about equal to the utricles	12. U. filiformis.

1. U. Sinclairii, Boott ex Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 309.—Rhizome stoloniferous. Culms 2–9 in. high, rather stout, siiiooth, subrigid, erect or curved, obtusely trigonous, leafy towards the base. Leaves shorter than the culms or equalling them, flat, grassy, 1/12–1/10 in. broad; margins scabrid. Spike rather stout, dense, narrow-oblong, ½–1 in. long; male portion very short, narrow; bract wanting. Glumes ovate, obtuse or the lowest subacute, pale whitish-green with broad scarious margins, many-nerved on the back. Utricles equalling the glumes or rather longer than them, ovate-lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, triquetrous, nerved, scabrid towards the tip, margins ciliate; bristle yellowish, twice the length of the utricle. Nut elliptic-oblong, trigonous.—C. B. Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 394; Kukenthal in Bot. Centralbl. 82 (1900) 3.

Var. elegans, Kukenthal, MS.—Culms more slender. Leaves numerous, 1/20–1/15 in. broad, exceeding the culms. Spike elongate, ¾–1¼ in. long, linear. Glumes cinnamon-brown.

South Island: Nelson—Lake Tennyson, Travers. Canterbury—Broken River, Enys! Otago—Eweburn, Naseby, Hector Mountains, Mount Cardrona, Upper Havvea, Petrie! Dart Valley, Kirk! Var. elegans: Black's, Otago, Petrie! 1200–4000 ft. December–February.

A distinct plant, easily recognised by the small size, broad flat leaves, stout and pale spike, and scabrid utricles. It has recently been found in Fuegia.

2. U. tenella, R. Br. Prodr. 241.—Rhizome very slender, creeping. Culms densely tufted, weak, flaccid, 4–9 in. high, rarely more. Leaves numerous, usually overtopping the culms, flat, grassy, filiform, 1/30–1/20 in. broad. Spike oblong, short, dense, ⅓–½ in. long, ⅙ in. broad; male portion very short, inconspicuous, sometimes reduced to 1 or 2 flowers; female flowers 6–10; lowest glume produced into a setaceous bract usually far exceeding the spike. Glumes lanceolate, acuminate; keel greenish, 1-nerved; margins pale, thin and membranous. Stamens usually 2. Utricles slightly longer than the glumes, oblong-lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, glabrous, faintly nerved; bristle nearly twice the length of the utricle.—Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 102, t. 152; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 433; C. B. Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 391.

South Island: Otago—Routeburn, Kirk! Clinton Valley, Petrie!

1 have followed Kukenthal in referring this to the Australian U. tenella, of which it has the slender flaccid habit. But it differs in the larger utricles, which