North Island: Opepe, near Lake Taupo, T.F.C. South Island: Otago—Marshy places on the shores of Lake Te Anau, Petrie! January–February.
Mr. C. B. Clarke suggests that this should be merged with C. cirrhosa, to which it is doubtless very closely allied. But the utricles are much more turgid and distinctly biconvex, and the beak very short and not so acutely bidentate. The habit is that of depauperated states of C. Petriei, but the spikelets are much smaller and closer together and usually sessile, the styles are 2, and the utricles are generally faintly nerved.
31. C. Berggreni, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 297.—Small, reddish-brown or green, forming broad depressed tufts. Culms branched at the base, very short, stout, spreading, sheathed to the top by the leaves, ½–1½ in. high. Leaves spreading, exceeding the culms, 1–2 in. long, 120–112 in. broad, linear, quite flat, obtuse, deeply striate, coriaceous; margins smooth or serrate above. Spikelets 2–3, small, ⅙–¼ in. long, usually approximate, all shortly peduucled or almost sessile, red-brown; terminal one male; the remainder female; bracts short, broad. Glumes broadly ovate, obtuse or very shortly cuspidate, membranous, chestnut-brown, usually with a green midrib and paler margins. Utricles rather longer than the glumes, elliptic, biconvex or obscurely trigonous, indistinctly nerved, dark red-brown or almost black above, paler towards the base; margins smooth; beak almost wanting, minutely bifid. Styles 2 or 3. Nut acutely trigonous.
South Island: Canterbury—Margins of lagoons near the Cass River, Lake Tekapo, T.F.C. Otago—Mount Pisa, Old Man Range, Mount Kyeburn, Petrie! 2500–5000 ft. December–February.
One of the most distinct species of the genus. The linear flat leaves, of uniform width throughout, and very obtuse at the tip, are unmistakable. The styles are sometimes 2, sometimes 3, but the acutely trigonous nut shows that the alliance of the species is with the 3-styled division of the genus. My Cass River specimens have narrower leaves and more closely compacted spikelets, and are placed by Kukenthal as var. augustifolia.
32. C. Hectori, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 405.—Culms densely tufted, branched at the base, erect, leafy throughout, 1–3 in. high. Leaves exceeding the culms, green, erect, rigid, flat, striate, about 120 in. broad; tips subacute; margins scabrid above. Spikelets 3–4, closely approximate, small, ⅙–¼ in. long, red-brown; terminal one male, erect; remainder all female, spreading, ovoid-oblong, sessile or the lowest very shortly pedunculate; bracts long, leafy, overtopping the spikelets. Glumes ovate, acuminate or cuspidate with the stout excurrent midrib, membranous, chestnut-brown with a paler midrib and margins. Utricles narrow-ovoid, trigonous, strongly nerved, narrowed at the base and upwards into an acutely 2-toothed beak; margins ciliate-serrate above. Styles 3. Nut trigonous.
South Island: Otago—Old Man Range, altitude 5000 ft., Petrie!
