angled, smooth, wiry, rigid, 9–18 in. high. Leaves 1 or 2 like the stems, 2–10 in. long, sometimes reduced to sheathing scales. Panicle contracted into a dense oblong spike-like head ⅓–½ in. long, subtended by a rigid sheathing bract terminated by a subulate erect point. Spikelets few, densely compacted, ⅙ in. long, 1-flowered. Glumes 5–6, ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, coriaceous, puberulous, the terminal one subtending the flower, the remainder all empty. Hypogynous scales 6, small, white, triangular, connate into a 6-lobed cup. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly oblong, obtusely trigonous, smooth, redbrown; beak short, ovoid-conic, pubescent.—Vauthiera australis, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 107, t. 20; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 276; Raoul, Choix, 40. Lepidosperma australe, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 279. L. tetragonum, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 307 (not of Labill.).
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon throughout. Sea-level to 2000 ft. November–January.
This differs from Lepidosperma, to which it was referred by Hooker, in always wanting the sterile flower below the fruit-bearing one. I have followed Mr. Clarke's suggestion in placing it in Cladium, notwithstanding the presence of hypogynous bristles. It is endemic in New Zealand.
10. C. capillaceum, C. B. Clarke, MS.—Rhizome short, creeping. Stems densely tufted, very slender, filiform, wiry, terete, finely striate, 9–18 in. high. Leaves reduced to a single closely apnressed purplish-red sheath, usually with a very minute erect scale-like lamina at the tip. Panicle terminal, very small, slender, ½–¾ in. long, of from 3 to 7 spikelets. Spikelets narrow, obscurely distichous, ⅛–⅙ in. long, 1-flowered. Glumes usually 5, ovate-lanceolate, awned, membranous, the 3 outer empty. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut oblong-ovoid, 3-ribbed, pale, smooth, crowned by the long and narrow pubescent style-base, which is as long as the nut itself.—Chætospora capillacea, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 81, t. 141a (not of Nees). C. capillaris, F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. ix. 34. Elynanthus capillaceus, Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 377. Schœnus capillaris, F. Muell. Second Census Austral. Pl. 215. S. tenuis, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. i. ed. ii. (1871) 94.
North Island: From the North Cape southwards, not uncommon. South Island: Near Westport, Townson! Sea level to 2000 ft. December–February.
Also found in Victoria and Tasmania. The narrow elongated persistent style-base gives the nut a different appearance to that of any other New Zealand species.
10. LEPIDOSPERMA, Labill.
Perennial herbs. Stems stout, leafy at the base, often flat or compressed. Leaves similar to the stems, sheathing at the base. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, either long and much branched, or
