6. S. apogon, Roem and Schult. Syst. ii. 77.—Stems very numerous, crowded, weak, slender, sometimes almost filiform, grooved, leafy at the base, 6–14 in. long. Leaves much shorter than the stems, narrow-linear, acute, almost flaccid, channelled in front, convex and striate on the back. Spikelets linear-lanceolate, chestnutbrown or almost black, ⅛–⅙ in. long, 1–3-flowered, few or many together in irregular more or less compact umbels or heads, which are both terminal and lateral from the upper leaf-sheaths; bracts leafy. Glumes distichous, oblong-lanceolate, acute, keeled, almost black with narrow pale margins; the 3 outer empty, usually much smaller. Hypogynous bristles 6, not much exceeding the nut. Stamens 3. Style-branches usually 3. Nut small, broadly oblong-obovoid, obtusely trigonous, conspicuously reticulated, white.—S. Brownii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 298; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 373. Chætospora imberbis, R. Br. Prodr. 233; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 274; Fl. Tasm. ii. 82.
Var. laxiflorus, C. B. Clarke.—Stems very slender, lax, sometimes 2 ft. long. Inflorescence much more lax; clusters mostly lateral; spikelets often long-peduncled.—S. laxiflorus, Steud. Cyp. 166. S. vaccilans, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) 421.
North Island: Auckland—Mongonui, T.F.C.; Puhipuhi, Kirk; Whangarei, Carse! vicinity of Auckland, T.F.C, Petrie! East Coast, Colenso! Var. laxiflorus: Between Taheke and Opanake, Petrie! ravines near the base of Mount Wynyard, Kirk! between Te Aroha and Katikati, Adams! Taranaki—White Cliffs, T.F.C. South Island: Canterbury—Kowai Pass, Kirk! (the typical form). Sea-level to 2000 ft. December–March.
Common in eastern Australia, from Queensland to Tasmania.
7. S. nitens, Poir. Encycl. Suppl. ii. 251.—Rhizome slender, creeping. Stems densely tufted, slender, wiry, grooved, leafy at the base, 2–12 in. high. Leaves few, shorter than the stems, semiterete, deeply channelled in front, grooved on the back; sheaths chestnut-brown or blackish-brown, shining, grooved. Inflorescence a terminal head of 1–15 densely crowded and sessile spikelets; bracts ½–1 in. long, exceeding the spikelets, continuous with the stem, so that the head appears lateral. Spikelets ovoid to lanceolate-ovoid, somewhat turgid, ⅛–⅕ in. long, 2- or more rarely 3-flowered, chestnut-brown to blackish-brown. Glumes 4–6, obscurely distichous, broadly ovate, obtuse, concave, keeled, shining; the 2 or rarely the 3 outer smaller and empty. Hypogynous bristles 6, usually longer than the nut, plumose at the base with long hairs. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut ovoid, obscurely trigonous, smooth and shining, pale-brown to dark-brown.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 299; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 362. S. Moorei, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 384 (not of Benth.). Chætospora nitens, R. Br. Prodr. 233; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 274; Fl. Tasm. ii. 82. Scirpus nitens, Boeck. in Linnæa, xxxvi. (1869–70) 696.
