Subsection Vulgares Aschers.

Basal sheaths laminate, without transverse fibrils. Culms slender. Spikelets 4–6, upper 1–2 male, remainder female, sessile or subsessile. Glumes awnless. Utricles suberect, membranaceous, nerved.

Carex gaudichaudiana Kunth Enum. ii (1837) 417; Steudel Syn. Glum, ii Cyper. (1855) 212; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii (1858) 99, t. 151A; Handb. N.Z. Fl. i (1864) 313; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. i (1906) 818; Kukenth. in Engler's Pflanzenr. Heft 38 (1909) 312; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. ii (1925) 263.

C. rulgaris var gaudichaudiana (Kunth) Boott Ill Car. iv (1867) 169, t. 567; Benth. Fl Anstral vii (1878) 442; Cheesem Trans NZ Inst xvi (1884) 429.

C. cacsptosa R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 243 non Gooden.

C. vulgaris Fries F. Mueller Fragm. viii (1874) 257 in error

Basal sheaths laminate. Leaves 2 mm. × 4–20 cm. Culms slender, sheath of lowest bract open in front, margins sometimes overlapping, prophyll of lowest spikelet inflated, open adaxially. Spikelets sessile, 1–1·5 cm × 0·5 cm Glumes ovate, subacute, not awned. dark-brown to black with a green midrib not reaching to the hyaline margins. Utricles ovate. Nerved. yellow when mature, mouth entire. Nut orbicular. Text-fig. 1, Fig. 2.

Habitat: Watercourses in open country up to 5,000 feet.