The best characters of this variable species are the tall leafy habit, narrow flat leaves, long and linear very lax spike, and pale glumes always shorter than the utricles. The typical state occurs in Victoria and Tasmania; var. Banksii is endemic.
10. U. rubra, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 287.—Whole plant red, red-purple, or brownish-red, usually forming a continuous sward. Culms 6–14 in. high, stout or slender, strict, rigid, leafy at the base, trigonous and scabrid above. Leaves much shorter than the culms, rarely equalling or exceeding them, flat or slightly involute, rigid or submembranous, striate, 120—115 in. broad; margins scabrid. Spike 1–2 in. long, rigid, linear, lax, continuous or slightly interrupted towards the base; male portion short; bract wanting. Glumes oblong-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, rigid, red or red-brown, slightly exceeding the utricle, obscurely 1-nerved on the back. Utricle lanceolate, tapering at both ends, glabrous, faintly nerved, about iin. long; bristle nearly twice as long as the utricle.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 310; C. B. Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 390.
Var. rigida.—Very densely tufted, forming tussocks similar to those of a Juncus. Culms and leaves rigid, strict, erect, wiry, deeply grooved, the leaves deeply concave or involute. Spike 1½–3 in. long; bract leafy, usually exceeding the spike.—U. rigida, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1884) 271 (not of Boeck.).
North Island: Plains near Lake Taupo, summit of Titiokura, Colenso! South Island: Not uncommon in mountain districts. 500–4500 ft. December–February.
This is referred to U. riparia as var. rubra by Kukenthal, an opinion with which I cannot concur. It appears to me to be quite as distinct as most of the New Zealand species.
11. U. rupestris, Raoul, Choix Pl. Nouv. Zel. 13, t. 5a.—Culms densely tufted, slender, leafy at the base, 3–12 in. high. Leaves usually longer than the culms, flat or slightly involute, 125–115 in. broad; margins scabrid. Spike ½–2 in. long, 110–18 in. broad, linear, lax, continuous or slightly interrupted below; male portion usually ⅓ the length of the spike; bract often wanting, but sometimes present and exceeding the spike. Glumes lanceolate, acute, membranous, greenish-brown or chestnut, 1-nerved on the back, slightly shorter than the utricle; margins narrow, hyaline or scarious. Utricle lanceolate, attenuate above, quite glabrous, faintly nerved, about ⅕ in. long; bristle about twice as long as the utricle.—Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 286; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 310; C. B. Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xx. 392. U. Hookeri, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 91, t. 51.
North Island: Ruahine Mountains, Colenso! sources of the Tukituki River, inland Patea, Petrie! Tararua Mountains, H. H. Travers! South Island: Nelson—Mount Arthur Plateau, T.F.C. Westland—Okarito, A. Hamilton! Otago—Not uncommon, Petrie! Kirk! Stewart Island: Kirk! Petrie! P. Goyen! Auckland and Campbell Islands: Hooker, Kirk! Sea-level to 3500 ft. December–January.
