46. C. pumila, Thunb. Fl. Jap. 39.—Rhizome long, creeping, often many feet in length. Culms short, stout, 4–8 in. high, leafy throughout. Leaves much longer than the culms, 115–18 in. broad, rigid, keeled, grooved, glaucous-green, recurved above, tapering into long subulate points. Spikelets 3–6, approximate; terminal one male, slender, ¾–1 in. long, often with one or two much smaller ones near its base; remainder all female, sometimes with male flowers at the top, oblong, stout, ½–¾ in. long, ¼–⅓ in. broad, sessile or the lowest shortly pedunculate; bracts long and leafy. Glumes ovate-oblong, membranous, chestnut-brown with pale hyaline margins; midrib stout, produced into a short awn or barely excurrent. Utricle very large, much, exceeding the glumes, ⅕–¼ in. long, thick and corky, turgid, ovoid, smooth or obsoletely nerved, brown, narrowed into a short bidentate beak. Styles 3. Nut brown, ovoid, trigonous.—Boott, Ill. Car. iv. 217; Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 315; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 445; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 439. C. littorea, Lab. Pl. Nov. Holl. ii. 69, t. 219; Raoul, Choix, 40; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 284.
North and South Islands: Sandy shores from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait, abundant. October–January.
Very distinct from any other New Zealand species. The long running rhizomes, glaucous keeled leaves, and large smooth and turgid utricles are conspicuous characters. Common in Australia and Tasmania, along the eastern coasts of Asia, and in extratropical South America.
47. C. Brownii, Tuckerm. Enm. Car. 21.—Culms tufted, slender, smooth, leafy at the base, 8–16 in. high. Leaves shorter than the culms, flat, grassy, ⅛–⅙ in. broad; margins smooth or very slightly scabrid. Spikelets 3–4; terminal one male, small, ⅕–½ in. long, slender, often few-flowered; remainder all female, ⅓–⅔ in. long, about 1 in. broad, dusky-brown, the two upper close together, on very short peduncles or subsessile, the third (when present) usually remote, on a slender erect peduncle sometimes 3 in. long; bracts leafy, rather short, but the upper exceeding the inflorescence. Male glumes narrow, membranous, terminating in a very long foliaceous awn. Female glumes with a small lanceolate or linear-oblong base ending in a serrulate awn equalling or shorter than the utricle. Utricles spreading when ripe, about ⅛ in. long, broadly oblong or ovoid, turgid, obscurely trigonous, strongly nerved, dull-brown; beak very short, tipped with 2 pale-brown teeth. Styles 3. Nut obovoid-oblong, pale, trigonous.—Boott, Ill. Car. iv. 161, t. 632; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 447. C. striata, R. Br. Prodr. 243 (not of Michaux).
North Island: Auckland—Marshes at Lake Tongonge, near Kaitaia, R. H. Matthews!
An Australian plant, ranging from Queensland to Victoria; also found in Japan. Mr. Matthews, who is the first to observe it in New Zealand, considers it to be indigenous, and there is nothing improbable in its occurrence in the extreme north of the colony.
