Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/851

Carex.] 3. C. pterocarpa, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 353.—A dwarf species, forming depressed patches 3–5 in. diam. Rhizome stout, creeping, clothed with dark-brown scales. Culms very short, stout, densely tufted, ½–1 in. long, rarely more. Leaves sheathing the culms to the top and much exceeding them, ½–2 in. long, $1⁄12$–$1⁄8$ in. broad, tapering upwards to an acute point, somewhat rigid and coriaceous, flat or involute, deeply grooved; margins scabrid above. Spikelets 2–4, compacted into a broadly ovoid head ¼–½ in. long, androgynous, pale brownish-green, ⅙–⅕ in. long; lowest bract usually with a foliaceous tip. Glumes ovate, acute, membranous, with a pale-green centre and brown margins. Male flowers at the top of the spikelets, female flowers below. Utricle elliptic-ovoid, planoconvex, conspicuously winged, strongly nerved, narrowed upwards into a bifid beak; margins and beak serrulate. Styles 2. Nut broadly oblong, lenticular.—C. Thomsoni, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 298 (not of Boott).

4. C. Kirkii, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 297.—Rhizome stout, woody, creeping. Culms short, densely tufted, slender, smooth, leafy throughout, ½–3 in. high. Leaves sheathing the whole or greater part of the culm and much longer than it, 2–6 in. long, pale-green, involute, filiform, usually strict and wiry. Spikelets 3–5, compacted into a dense oblong spike ¼–½ in. long, sessile, androgynous, pale-green, few-flowered, ⅕–¼ in. long; bract usually foliaceous. Glumes ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, membranous, with a green midrib and pale margins. Male flowers 2–3 at the top of the spikelets, sometimes absent in the lower ones; female flowers 3–5 at the base. Utricle ovate-lanceolate, planoconvex, narrowed into a rather long bifid beak, strongly nerved, coriaceous, minutely papillose all over; margins and beak very finely crenulate. Styles 2. Nut broadly oblong, lenticular.

Var. membranacea, Kukenthal, MS.—Taller. Leaves 6–10 in. long, sheathing nearly the whole of the culm and twice as long as it. Spikelets 5–6, forming a loose spike ¾–1 in. long. Utricle more membranous, narrower, with a longer and more tapering beak.

Var. elatior, Kuthenthal, MS.—Still taller, the culms 6–12 in. long, the upper half not sheathed by the leaves. Leaves 9–18 in. long, broader, sometime $1⁄15$ in., flat or involute at the base. Spikelets 4–8 in a lax spike ¾–1½ in. long, the lowest sometimes remote. Utricle as in var. membranacea, but more coriaceous.

The typical form apparently not uncommon in mountain districts from the Clarence Valley to the south of Otago. Var. membranacea: Mount Arthur Plateau, T.F.C. Var. elatior: Mount Arthur Plateau, T.F.C.; Mount St. Bathan's (Otago), Petrie! 2500–4500 ft. December–March.