Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/809

Eleocharis.] Spikelet variable in length, ¼–¾ in. or more, linear-oblong, cylindric, obtuse or subacute, mauy-flowered. Glumes broadly ovate, obtuse, membranous, concave, brown with usually a pale line down the centre; margins broad, scarious. Hypogynous scales 4–8, exceeding the nut. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly obovoid, biconvex, smooth or very minutely pitted, brown, crowned by the small conic style-base.—''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 745; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 294 (Heleocharis). E. gracilis (excl. var. b and y), Hook.f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 270; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 301 (not of R. Br.)''. E. ambigua, ''Kirk ex Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' vi. (1874) 225.

5. E. Cunninghamii, Boeck. in Flora, xii. (1858) 412 (Heleocharis).—Rhizome long, creeping, scaly, stout or slender, dark redbrown or almost black. Stems many from the rhizome, variable in length. 3–15 in., very slender, sometimes almost filiform, striate; sheath membranous, with a thin oblique mouth. Spikelet small, short, ⅛—¼ in. long, broadly ovoid, subacute, 5–20-flowered. Glumes broadly oblong, obtuse, membranous, usually pale but often stained with red-brown; margins broad, scarious. Hypogynous bristles 4–8, exceeding the nut. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly obovoid, plano-convex or obscurely trigonous, smooth, pale yellowish-brown, crowned by the small pyramidal style-base, which is rather broader than the top of the nut.—Linnæa, xxxvi. (1869–70) 427. E. gracilis, var. gracillima and var. radicans, ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 270; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 301 (not of R. Br.)''. E. gracillima, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 745. Heleocharis Hookeri, ''Boeck. in Linnæa,'' xxxvi. (1869–70) 430. Isolepis acicularis, ''A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 103 (not of R. Br.)''.

Annual or perennial tufted herbs, usually of small or medium size. Leaves from near the base of the stem, grassy or filiform. Inflorescence a terminal simple or compound umbel, or reduced to a