Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/803

Rh tinguished by the stiffer habit, solid and usually angled or compressed stems, entire leaf-sheaths, basifixed anthers, undivided (not plumose) stigmas, and by the position of the embryo. Genera 65; species estimated at 3400. Notwithstanding the extent of the order, it is of little economic importance. The herbage is too coarse and harsh, and too deficient in nutritive properties, to be serviceable as food for cattle; and the seed is useless. The tuberous roots of certain species of Scirpus and Cyperus contain starch, and have been used as food, while in others they are bitter, tonic, and stimulating, and have been employed in medicine. Many species are serviceable for paper-making, or in the fabrication of mats, baskets, &c. The paper of the ancients was manufactured from the well known Papyrus, a plant common along the Nile and in other parts of tropical Africa. Of the 14 genera found in New Zealand 9 are either cosmopolitan or very widely distributed; 2 (Carpha and Oreobolus) are confined to Australia and South America; Uncinia has a similar range, but extends northwards to the Sandwich Islands, Mexico, and the West Indies; the 2 remaining (Lepidosperma and Gahnia) are mainly Australian, but reach as far north as Malaya and China.

I have to express my indebtedness to Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., whose knowledge of the order is unrivalled, for his unwearied kindness in supplying me with information and critical notes respecting the New Zealand species. He has also, at considerable trouble to himself, furnished me with a list of the synonymy of the species, taken from the MSS. of the general work on the Cyperaceæ of the world, on which he has been engaged for some years past. His assistance has been of the greatest possible use.