Var. macrostachya, Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. v. 32.—Umbels simple or compound. Spikelets large, sometimes over 1 in. long. Style-branches almost always 2. Nut large, broadly obovoid, flat on one side and obscurely angled on the other, white or pale-brown, opaque, not polished.—Asa Gray, Man. Bot. U.S. 500.
North and South Islands: The two varieties not uncommon in brackish-water swamps and on the banks of lakes and streams from the North Cape to Otago Harbour. November–February.
In the North Island var. fluviatilis extends inland along most of the larger rivers, ascending the Waikato as far as Lake Taupo. Var. macrostachya seems to be chiefly found in brackish-water swamps. Both varieties are abundant in North America, and also in Australia and Tasmania. According to Mr. C. B. Clarke, the typical form of the species has not yet been observed in either Australia or New Zealand.
7. CARPHA, R. Br.
Perennial herbs. Leaves crowded at the base of the stem, usually shorter than it. Spikelets numerous, narrow, 1-flowered, arranged in a terminal corymb or panicle, sometimes contracted into a more or less dense head. Glumes usually 4, distichous; the 2 lowest small, empty; the third large, also empty; the uppermost about the same size, with a smgle hermaphrodite flower in its axil. Hypogynous bristles 6, plumose, much enlarged in fruit and exceeding the glumes. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut oblong, 3-angled, narrowed above into the persistent and hardened base of the style.
In addition to the New Zealand species, which is also found in Tasmania, Victoria, and on the mountains of New Guinea, there is another closely allied one in Chili and Fuegia.
1. C. alpina, R. Br. Prodr. 230.—A tufted grass-like herb 3–12 in. high. Leaves usually shorter than the stems, numerous, narrow-linear, rigid, obtuse at the tip, flat or concave, grooved, dilated at the base into broad membranous sheaths. Spikelets ⅓–½ in. long, lanceolate, compressed, arranged in a corymbose manner at the top of the stem, in small specimens crowded into a head. Bracts leafy, usually exceeding the inflorescence. Glumes rigidly membranous, linear-oblong, pale, shining, concave. Hypogynous bristles very large, in the fruiting stage exceeding the glumes, conspicuously plumose for their whole length. Nut narrow-oblong, prismatic, tipped by the long hardened base of the style.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 273; Fl. Tasm. ii. 84; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 299; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 381, and in Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 1216.
North Island: Mountain districts from Moehau (Cape Colville) and the East Cape southwards. South Island, Stewart Island: Abundant in hilly and mountain districts throughout. Auckland Islands: Carnley Harbour, Kirk! Usually from 2500 to 5000 ft., but descends to sea-level in Stewart Island. December–February.
