Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/771

Juncus.] completely and distinctly septate. Cymes terminal, sparingly branched, more or less contracted, usually of 3–8 fascicles, rarely more; bract at the base long, foliaceous, usually overtopping the cyme. Flowers 10–20 in each fascicle, greenish, about ⅙ in. long. Perianth-segments equal, lanceolate, acuminate. Stamens 6, about half the length of the perianth-segments. Capsule equalling the perianth or rather longer than it, narrow, prismatic, triquetrous, 1-celled, the placentas not very conspicuous inside the cells. Seeds ovoid-oblong, grooved and transversely rugose, apiculate at each end.—''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 290; Buchenan [sic] Monog. Junc.'' 357. J. prismatocarpus, ''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 131 (in part). J. cephalotes, ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 263 (not of Thunb.)''.

13. J. lampocarpus, Ehr. Calam. n. 126.—Perennial, more or less densely tufted. Stems erect or ascending, rarely decumbent at the base, slender, terete or compressed, soft, leafy, 6–18 in. high. Leaves shorter than the stems, 3–9 in. long, $1⁄20$–$1⁄12$ broad, linear-subulate, straight or curved, compressed or nearly terete, unitubular, strongly septate; sheathing base long and narrow, with 2 obtuse auricles at the tip. Cyme terminal, compound; branches slender, divaricate, bearing small 2–5-flowered heads at the tips and in the axils; lower bract much shorter than the cyme, leafy. Flowers small, $1⁄10$–$1⁄8$ in. long, chestnut-brown. Perianth-segments equal, lanceolate, acute. Stamens 6, much shorter than the segments. Capsule exceeding the perianth, narrow, pyramidal, triquetrous, mucronate, reddish-brown, glossy, 1-celled. Seeds obovoid, reticulate.—Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. vii. (1876) 378; ''Buchen. Monog. Junc.'' 376.

14. J. scheuchzerioides, ''Gaud. in Ann. Sci. Nat. Ser.'' i. 5 (1825) 100.—Stems usually much branched below, often prostrate and rooting, 2–8 in. long or more, leafy throughout. Leaves strict, erect, 1–5 in. long, far exceeding the culms, narrow-linear, attenuated at the apex, compressed, striate, pale-green, soft and herbaceous, pith with transverse joints; sheathing base long and broad, mem-