about ⅓ in. long, narrow ovoid-oblong, obtusely trigonous, acute, chestnut-brown, coriaceous, smooth and shining, 3-valved. Seeds numerous, small, pale, produced at both ends into a long pearly-white appendage.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 292. E. novæ-zealandiæ, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. (1872) 227, t. 16. Marsippospermum gracile, Buchen. in Abh. Ver. Bremen, vi. (1879) 374; Monog. Junc. 68.
South Island: Not uncommon in alpine localities, especially in the central and western portions of the Island, usually between 4500–7000 ft. Auckland and Campbell Islands: Not uncommon in rocky places, 500–1200 ft. December–February.
Easily distinguished from the preceding species by the larger flower, relatively smaller capsule, and tailed seeds. Mr. Buchanan's R. novæ-zealandiæ was published in the belief that the Auckland Islands plant always had the leaves solitary and 2 or 3 times longer than the stems, but in point of fact both New Zealand and Auckland Islands specimens are variable in the number and length of the leaves.
2. JUNCUS, Linn.
Perennial or more rarely annual herbs; stems usually densely tufted. Leaves mostly or all radical, stout or slender, terete, compressed or flat, sometimes reduced to sheathing scales. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, in axillary or terminal fascicles or cymes or panicles. Perianth-segments 6, glumaceous, distinct, lanceolate or oblong, margins often scarious, the 3 outer often with the midrib keeled or thickened. Stamens 6 or rarely 3. Ovary more or less perfectly 3-celled, rarely 1-celled; ovules usually numerous in each cell; style divided to the middle into 3 linear stigmatic lobes. Capsule completely or incompletely 3-celled, 3valved. Seeds small, ovoid or obovoid; testa minutely striate and reticulate.
A large genus of about 150 species, many of them widely distributed and some almost cosmopolitan. Of the 16 species found in New Zealand, 5 have a wide range, especially in the Northern Hemisphere; 7 extend to Australia and Tasmania, but not to any other countries; one stretches through Australia to eastern Asia and as far northwards as China and Japan; another occurs in antarctic South America; and 2 are endemic.
| A. Genuini. Stems tall, terete, produced beyond the cyme into an erect often pungent tip, base clothed with leafless sheaths. Leaves wanting, or rarely 1 or 2 terete like the stem. | |
| * Leaves wanting. | |
| † Capsule conspicuously longer than the perianth, ovoid-trigonous. | |
| Stems very tall and stout, 2–5 ft. × ⅙–¼ in. Flowers distinct in the cyme, not collected into separate groups. Stamens usually 6 | 1. J. pallidus. |
| Stems very slender, 9–24 in. × 125–110 in. Cyme lax, flowers not very numerous, distinct in the cyme. Stamens 6–3 | 2. J. pauciflorus. |
