Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/786

746 connate and sheathing. Flowers small and inconspicuous, usually green, hermaphrodite or unisexual, variously arranged. Perianth either wanting, or of 3–6 inferior segments valvate in bud. Stamens 1–6, hypogynous; anthers basifixed, erect, 1–2-celled. Ovary superior, of 1–6 distinct or more or less connate carpels, each 1-celled with usually a single erect or pendulous ovule; style long or short, stigma various. Fruit of 1–6 indehiscect nutlets or utricles, rarely drupaceous. Seed solitary, testa membranous; albumen wanting; embryo straight or curved, radicle unusually large.

Perennial marsh herbs. Roots fibrous. Leaves all radical, filiform or rush-like, flat or terete. Scapes slender, naked, erect, bearing a raceme or spike of small green hermaphrodite flowers. Perianth-segments 3 or 6, herbaceous, concave, deciduous. Stamens 6, inserted on the base of the perianth-segments; filaments very short; anthers didymous, extrorse. Carpels 6, distinct or more or less connate; stigmas penicillate; ovules solitary in