tinctly longer than the perianth, but specimens with a closer many-flowered inflorescence cannot be separated from J. effusus in the absence of ripe fruit. Buchenau's var. Gunnii appears to be a mere form difiering slightly in the darker-coloured basal sheaths and flowers, and slightly longer capsule.
3. J. vaginatus, R. Br. Prodr. 258.—Very densely tufted, rather stout, 2–3 ft. high or even more. Rhizome stout, woody, creeping. Stems very closely packed on the rhizome, 112–16 in. diam., strict, erect, terete, finely striate; pith interrupted with irregular cavities; basal sheaths large, rather lax, smooth and shining and dark red-brown at the base, pale straw-coloured and distinctly grooved above. Inflorescence lateral, large, branched; the branches few or many, stilif, erect, rather close together, bearing distinct compact globose many-flowered heads. Flowers 110–18 in. long, pale-brown. Perianth-segments lanceolate, acute, strammeous, the inner ones rather shorter than the outer. Stamens usually 3, rarely 6. Capsule equalling the perianth or only very slightly exceeding it, broadly oblong, obscurely trigonous, obtuse at the tip.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 129; Buchen. in Engl. Bot. Jahr. xxi. (1895) 264. J. australis, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 66, t. 13a; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 289.
North and South Islands: Marshy places from the North Cape to Banks Peninsula, not uncommon. December–February.
In referring Hooker's J. australis to the Australian J. vaginatus I have followed Buchenau's recent memoir on the Australian Junci Genuini (Engl. Bot. Jahr. 1895), and the opinion expressed by Mr. Rendle (Journ. Bot. 1900, 81). The New Zealand plant can generally be separated from J. effusus (polyanthemus, Buchen.) by the larger size, by the inflorescence being split up into distinct little rounded cymes or groups of flowers, and by the larger and rather narrower capsule; but some states are difficult to place. Smaller and more slender forms show an approach to J. pauciflorus, but the capsule of that species usually much exceeds the perianth.
4. J. effusus, Linn. Sp. Plant. 326.—Pale or brownish-green, very densely tufted, 1–3 ft. high. Rhizome short, stout, horizontal. Stems crowded on the rhizome, 120–18 in. diam., erect, soft or stiff and wiry, terete, finely striate; pith continuous or interrupted; basal sheaths appressed, opaque, smooth below, grooved above. Inflorescence lateral; cymes lax or rather dense, much branched; branches slender, unequal, often curved. Flowers numerous, small, 112–110 in. long, green or pale-chestnut, usually scattered along the branches of the cyme, rarely collected into separate groups. Perianth-segments equal or the outer rather longer, linear-lanceolate, acute, thin, margins membranous, scarious. Stamens 3, much shorter than the segments; anthers linear. Capsule about equalling the perianth, broadly oblong or obovoid, obscurely trigonous, obtuse or almost retuse at the tip, thin, shining, pale ferruginous or stramineous. Seeds numerous, obliquely obovoid, apiculate, pale ferruginous.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 263 (in part); Buchen.
