North Island: Abundant in lowland districts throughout. South Island: Chiefly near the coast, extending as far south as Okarito (Hamilton) and northern Otago (Buchanan). Sea-level to 1500 ft. Toetoe-upoko-tangata; Toetoe-whatu-mami. November–January.
4. ELEOCHARIS, R. Br.
Stems simple, erect, without perfect leaves. Sheaths few. the uppermost cylindric, truncate or produced on one side into a short tooth. Inflorescence a single termmal many-flowered terete spikelet. Glumes many, imbricate all round the rhachis; the lowest 1 or 2 empty, shorter than the spikelet; many succeeding ones hermaphrodite and fruit-bearing; the uppermost male or sterile. Hypogynous bristles usually 6, but varymg from 3 to 8. rarely absent. Stamens 3 or fewer. Style swollen at the base; branches 3 or 2, linear. Nut obovoid, trigonous or plano-convex.
Species estimated at 115, distributed over the whole world, but most numerous in America. Of the 5 found in New Zealand, 2 are endemic, 2 extend to Australia, the remaining one is almost cosmopolitan.
| A. Limnochloa. Stem stout, spikelet large, hardly wider than the stem. Glumes subrigid. | |
| Stems stout, septate. Spikelet 1–2 in. long | 1. E. sphacelata. |
| B. Eleogenus. Stem slender. Spikelets small, broader than the stem. Glumes membranous. Style 2-fid. | |
| Stems short, 1–2½ in. Spikelet ⅙–¼ in. | 2. E. neo-zealandica. |
| C. Eu-Eleocharis. Stem slender. Spikelet small, broader than the stem Glumes membranous. Style 3-fid. | |
| Stems 2–6 in., filiform. Spikelets ⅛–⅕ in., compressed. Nut longitudinally ribbed and transversely striate | 3. E. acicularis. |
| Stems 4–18 in., rather stout. Leaf-sheath truncate with an erect mucro. Spikelet ¼–¾ in. Nut smooth | 4. E. acuta. |
| Stems 3–15 in., very slender. Leaf-sheath oblique, acute. Spikelet ⅛–¼ in. Nut smooth | 5. E. Cunninghamii |
1. E. sphacelata, R. Br. Prodr. 224.—Rhizome stout, creeping, stoloniferous. Stems stout, cylindrical, 1–3 ft. high, ⅓ in. diam., hollow, transversely septate; sheaths long, membranous. Spikelet very large, 1–2 in. long, ⅓ in. diam., solitary, terminal, cylindrical, pale-coloured, tip acute. Glumes numerous, very closely imbricate, obovate-oblong, obtuse, 1-nerved, membranous, pale with a brown line just inside the scarious margin. Hypogynous bristles 6–9, usually exceeding the nut, retrorsely scabrid. Style very long, branches 3. Nut broadly obovoid, compressed, minutely granular, pale, crowned with the persistent dark-brown conic swollen base of the stvle.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 277; Raoul, Choix, 40; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 269; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 300; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 292 (Heleocharis).
