1. C. pyrenaica, Wahl. in Vet. Akad. Nya Handl. Stockh. (1803) 139.—Culms slender, densely tufted, leafy at the base, 2–9 in. high, rarely more. Leaves numerous, longer or shorter than the culms, flat, grassy, 125–115 in. broad, grooved beneath; margins scabrid. Spikelet solitary, terminal, dark chestnut-brown, ⅓–¾ in. long, oblong or elliptic-oblong, densely many-flowered; male flowers at the top; bract wanting or very short. Glumes membranous, deciduous; of the female flowers ovate or ovate-oblong, acute or obtuse, shorter than the utricle; of the males narrower, linear-oblong, subacute. Utricle stipitate, lanceolate or almost fusiform, gradually narrowed into an obliquely bifid beak, unequally biconvex or almost plano-convex, smooth, spreading or reflexed when ripe. Styles usually 2 in New Zealand examples, usually 3 in European or American. Nut oblong, lenticular.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 280; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 312; Boott, Ill. Car. iv. 148, t. 475, 476; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 424.
North Island: Ruahine Mountains, Colenso! E. W. Andrews! South Island: Nelson—Mount Arthur, Mount Peel, Raglan Mountains, T.F.C. Canterbury—Mountains above Arthur's Pass, Mount Dobson Range, Mount Cook district, T.F.C. Westland—Kelly's Hill, Petrie! Otago— Mountains of the Lake district, Buchanan! common on the higher mountains of the central and western districts, Petrie! 3500–6500 ft. December–March.
Also in Europe, Japan, and western North America from Alaska to Utah.
2. C. acicularis, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 280, t. 63c.—Culms slender, strict, wiry, terete, densely tufted, leafy at the base, 1–6 in. high. Leaves shorter than the culms or equalling them, narrow, strict, rigid, straight or curved, almost terete, grooved down the front, obtuse and slightly scabrid at the tip. Spikelet small, solitary, terminal, ⅙–⅓ in. long, broadly ovoid, red-brown, few-flowered; females 2–8; males 2–4 at the top of the spikelet. Glumes lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or the lower ones awned, keel green or pale-brown. Utricle shortly stipitate, lanceolate, narrowed above into a rather long beak, obtusely triquetrous; beak serrate, obliquely bifid at the tip. Styles 3, seldom 2. Nut pale, trigonous.—Boott Ill. Car. iv. 157, t. 508, f. 2; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 312; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 437; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 424. C. Archeri, Boott in Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 98, t. 150; Ill. Car. iv. 156, t. 508, f. 3. C. inconspicua, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 612.
North Island: Mount Hikurangi, Adams and Petrie! Tongariro, Herb. Colenso! Ruahine Mountains, Colenso! Olsen! E. W. Andrews! South Island: Not uncommon on the mountains of Nelson, Canterbury, and Westland. Otago—Mountains above Lake Harris, Kirk! Old Man Range, Petrie! 2500–5000 ft. December–March.
Easily distinguished from C. pyrenaica by the strict nearly terete leaves, smaller few-flowered spikelet, and erect subulate bract. It is also found in Victoria and Tasmania.
