Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/798

758 4. C. viridis, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 441.—Forming soft green cushions in subalpine bogs sometimes several feet in diam. and 1–2 in. thick or more. Stems very densely compacted, erect, branched, leafy throughout. Leaves numerous, erect, imbricating, with broad scarious sheathing bases, ¼–½ in. long, linear-subulate, channelled in front or terete, tip obtuse or acute, sheaths and sometimes the lower part of the lamina more or less clothed with soft white hairs. Scape terminal, usually exceeding the leaves. Floral bracts 2, alternate but close together, jointed at the base, the lower one with an obtuse often hooked point. Flowers 1 or more rarely 2 to each bract, each flower with a hyaline scale almost as long as the bract. Stamen 1, sometimes deficient in one of the flowers; filament very long. Carpel usually solitary but sometimes 2 connate in the lower flower; style 1 to each carpel, long, filiform.—C. monogyna, ''Kirk in Journ. Linn. Soc.'' xix. 286 (not of Benth.). Gaimardia ciiiata, ''Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 85; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 295.

Small densely tufted perennial herbs; stems much branched, leafy throughout. Leaves numerous, densely imbricated, linear or setaceous. Scape terminal. Floral bracts 2 or 3, when 3 the upper one usually empty. Flowers 1 to each bract, sessile or stipitate. Stamens 2; filaments filiform; anthers linear-oblong. Ovary 2- or rarely 3-celled; the cells (or carpels) collateral, connate; styles the same number as the carpels, long, filiform. Fruiting carpels 2, or 1 by abortion.

1. G. setacea, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 267.—Perennial, densely tufted and compacted, forming broad moss-like patches sometimes 1–3 ft. across. Stems very numerous, branched, erect, leafy throughout, 1–3 in. high. Leaves numerous, erect, densely imbricate, ¼–¾ in. long, linear-setaceous with acicular tips; sheaths broad, membranous, quite glabrous, entire, produced at the tip