Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/107

Colobanthus.] over ½ in. long, upper often very small, $1⁄8$–$1⁄4$ in., narrow-linear or linear-subulate, acute or mucronate but not acicular at the tip, connate at the base, flat or concave above, convex beneath; texture soft. Peduncles short, stout, terminal. Flowers $1⁄8$–$1⁄6$ in. long. Sepals 4, ovate, broad at the base, obtuse at the tip, rather thick. Capsule ⅓ shorter than the sepals.—''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 24; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 60.

3. C. Billardieri, ''Fenzl. in Ann. Wien Mus.'' i. 49.—A small densely tufted perennial ½–1½ in. high, rarely more. Leaves in crowded tufts, usually grassy, often flaccid, very variable in length, sometimes 1 in. long, very narrow linear or filiform, at other times shorter, ¼ in., linear-subulate; broad and membranous at the base and sheathing the stem, gradually narrowed upwards, acute or acicular at the tip. Peduncles springing from the centre of the leaf-tufts, longer or shorter than the leaves, usually elongating in the fruiting stage. Sepals 5, ovate, acute or acuminate, as long as or rather longer than the capsule. Capsule broadly ovoid, obtuse.—''Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 14; Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 27; Fl. Tasm. i. 45; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 25; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 161; Kirk, Students' Fl.'' 60.

4. C. Muelleri, ''T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xxvii. (1895) 356.—A small densely tufted perfectly glabrous plant, ¼–1½ in. high. Leaves rigid, cartilaginous, spreading, often recurved, ¼–¾ in. long, linear-subulate, broadly channelled above, convex below, narrowed into short acicular tips. Peduncles terminal or lateral, ¼–¾ in. long, stout, often hidden among the leaves. Sepals 5, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, suddenly narrowed into cartilaginous points with acicular tips, about ⅓ longer than the capsule.—Students' Fl. 60. C. Billardieri var. brachypoda, ''F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is.'' 11.