Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/766

726 tinctly longer than the perianth, but specimens with a closer many-flowered inflorescence cannot be separated from J. effusus in the absence of ripe fruit. Buchenau's var. Gunnii appears to be a mere form difiering slightly in the darker-coloured basal sheaths and flowers, and slightly longer capsule.

3. J. vaginatus, R. Br. Prodr. 258.—Very densely tufted, rather stout, 2–3 ft. high or even more. Rhizome stout, woody, creeping. Stems very closely packed on the rhizome, $1⁄12$–$1⁄6$ in. diam., strict, erect, terete, finely striate; pith interrupted with irregular cavities; basal sheaths large, rather lax, smooth and shining and dark red-brown at the base, pale straw-coloured and distinctly grooved above. Inflorescence lateral, large, branched; the branches few or many, stilif, erect, rather close together, bearing distinct compact globose many-flowered heads. Flowers $1⁄10$–$1⁄8$ in. long, pale-brown. Perianth-segments lanceolate, acute, strammeous, the inner ones rather shorter than the outer. Stamens usually 3, rarely 6. Capsule equalling the perianth or only very slightly exceeding it, broadly oblong, obscurely trigonous, obtuse at the tip.—''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 129; ''Buchen. in Engl. Bot. Jahr.'' xxi. (1895) 264. J. australis, ''Hook. f. Fl. Tasm.'' ii. 66, t. 13; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 289.

4. J. effusus, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 326.—Pale or brownish-green, very densely tufted, 1–3 ft. high. Rhizome short, stout, horizontal. Stems crowded on the rhizome, $1⁄20$–$1⁄8$ in. diam., erect, soft or stiff and wiry, terete, finely striate; pith continuous or interrupted; basal sheaths appressed, opaque, smooth below, grooved above. Inflorescence lateral; cymes lax or rather dense, much branched; branches slender, unequal, often curved. Flowers numerous, small, $1⁄12$–$1⁄10$ in. long, green or pale-chestnut, usually scattered along the branches of the cyme, rarely collected into separate groups. Perianth-segments equal or the outer rather longer, linear-lanceolate, acute, thin, margins membranous, scarious. Stamens 3, much shorter than the segments; anthers linear. Capsule about equalling the perianth, broadly oblong or obovoid, obscurely trigonous, obtuse or almost retuse at the tip, thin, shining, pale ferruginous or stramineous. Seeds numerous, obliquely obovoid, apiculate, pale ferruginous.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 263 (in part); Buchen.''