| ** Spikelets 1- or rarely 2-flowered, never more than one flower perfecting fruit. | |
| Stems and leaves slender, terete. Panicle 2–6 in. long, stiff, dense; bracts small. Nut small, oblong-orbicular | 6. C. teretifolium. |
| Stems very slender, terete. Leaf solitary and long, or reduced to sheathing scales. Panicle 6–18 in. long, slender. Nut ovoid, smooth; tip large, tumid | 7. C. Gunnii. |
| Stems terete. Leaves reduced to sheathing scales. Panicle short, ½–1½ in. long. Nut obtusely trigonous, tip small, puberulous | 8. C. junceum. |
| Stems stout, tetragonous. Leaves like the stems, short, often reduced to sheathing scales. Panicle contracted into a spike ⅓–½ in. long. Hypogynous bristles present | 9. C. Vauthiera. |
| Stems filiform. Leaves reduced to sheathing scales. Panicle short, ½–¾ in. long; spikelets 3–7. Nut with a persistent style-base as long as itself | 10. C. capillaceum. |
1. C. Sinclairii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 305.—Stems tall, leafy, quite flat, smooth, 2–5 ft. high, ¼ in. diam., forming large clumps. Leaves 2–4 ft. long, distichous and equitant at the base, acuminate, quite flat, ½–1 in. broad, pale-green, smooth, striate; margins thin, even. Panicle large, terminal, nodding, excessively branched, 9–12 in. long or more; bracts sheathing, 2-edged; branches drooping. Spikelets innumerable, rich dark red- brown, fascicled, ⅙ in. long, 2–3-flowered, the lower flower usually alone fertile. Glumes usually 5, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate or almost awned, minutely scabrid-pubescent, 2 or 3 outer empty. Hypogynous bristles wanting. Stamens 3, elongating after flowering. Style-branches 3. Nut small, red-brown, fusiform, trigonous, conspicuously narrowed at the base, and also upwards into a triquetrous minutely scabrid beak. C. gahnioides, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (188i) 340. Vincentia anceps, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 276. V. gladiata, Boeck. in Linnæa, xxxviii. (1874) 250.
North Island: From the North Capo southwards to Taupo and Hawke's Bay, not uncommon on cliffs, bank-sides, &c. Sea-level to 2000 ft. October–January.
A handsome species, remarkable for the broad flat leaves. When out of flower it might easily be mistaken for an iridacaous plant. Mr. Colenso's C. gahnioides is absolutely undistinguishable from the type.
2. C. complanatum, Berggr. in Minnesk. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 23, t. 6, f. 1–5.—Stems tall, rather stout, compressed and 2-edged, smooth, finely striate, 2–4 ft. high, ¼ in. diam. at the base. Leaves about the length of the stem, distichous and equitant at the base, narrow-ensiform, acuminate, flat or slightly convex, ¼–½ in. broad, pale-green, smooth, striate; margins even, not scabnd. Panicle long and narrow, 6–12 in., much branched; branches fascicled, erect; bracts sheathing, with ciliate margins. Spikelets numerous, chestnut-brown, ⅙–⅕ in. long, ovate-oblong, 2–3-flowered, 1 or 2 of the flowers fertile. Glumes usually 5, ovate, acuminate,
