point, green or chestnut-brown. Stamens 3, rarely 2 or 1. Style-branches 3, long, linear. Nut about half the length of the glume, trigonous, obovoid, obtuse, minutely apiculate, not longitudinally ribbed, the surface appearing to be minutely reticulate from the numerous subquadrate cells.—S. Savii, Sebast. and Mauri, Prodr. Fl. Rom. 22. S. riparius, Poir. Encycl. Suppl. v. 103; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 327. Isolepis riparia, R. Br. Prodr. 222; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 89, t. 145c; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 302. I. setacea, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 271, in part (not of R. Br.). I. setosa, Raoul, Choix, 40.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands, Auckland and Campbell Islands: Abundant throughout. Sea-level to 2000 ft. November–February.
Nearly cosmopolitan, being found in all temperate and tropical countries except south-eastern Asia. In New Zealand there are two principal forms: one, which is usually littoral, has the stems rather stiff, the spikelets usually solitary and often chestnut-brown, and the nut broadly obovoid; the other is more slender, the spikelets are paler, and the nut much smaller, more elliptical, and more acutely trigonous.
5. S. antarcticus, Linn. Mant. ii. 181.—Densely tufted, very variable in size, sometimes ½–1½ in. high, stout, rigid, cartilaginous; at other times taller and more slender, 3–6 in. high or more. Leaves 1 or several at the base of ihe stem and shorter than it, obtuse at the tip, rigid and coriaceous in the smaller forms, softer and more grassy in the larger ones. Heads solitary, terminal, of 1–4 spikelets in the small stout forms, of 3–9 in the larger ones; bracts ¼–1 in. long, usually far exceeding the head. Spikelets rather stout, ovoid-oblong, ⅛–⅕ in. long, many-flowered. Glumes broadly ovate, boatshaped with a prominent keel, obtuse or the keel produced into a short point, often rigid and coriaceous, pale whitish-yellow with a conspicuous dark chestnut-brown spot; sides broad, marked with prominent curved lines; back often curved. Hypogynous scales wanting. Stamens 3 or 2, rarely 1. Style-branches 3. Nut rather more than half as long as the glume, elliptic-ovoid, trigonous, acute, minutely punctate, white to yellow, sometimes ultimately almost black.—C. B. Clarke in Fl. Cap. vii. 223. S. cartilagineus, Poir. Encycl. Suppl. v. 103; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 328. S. ebenocarpus, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 224. Isolepis cartilaginea, R. Br. Prodr. 222; Hook f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 271; Fl. Tasm. ii. 88, t. 145; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 302.
North Island: Hawke's Bay—Colenso! A. Hamilton! Wellington—Karioi, Kaiwarawara, Kirk! South Island: Nelson—Cape Farewell, Kirk! Canterbury—Burnham, Kirk! Springfield, T.F.C. Otago—Catlin's River, Petrie! Lake Wakatipu, Kirk! Bluff Hill, Kirk! Stewart Island: Port Pegasus, Petrie! Kirk! Sea-level to 2000 ft. November–March.
Also in extratropical Australia, South Africa, and St. Helena.
