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Specimens Examined
Herb. Bot. Division: 82988 Mouth of Wairau River, Marlborough, M. M. Small.
Herb. Dominion Museum: Chatham Islands, L. Cockayne, W. R. B. Oliver, W. Martin, Auckland Islands, F. R. Chapman; Antipodes Islands, B. C. Aston.
—Signor Carlos Munoz Pizarro, Director Departamento de Investigaciones Agricolas, Santiago, has courteously supplied me with photographs and portions from the following specimens:—
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Carex darwinii Boott SGO 58695, Tierra del Fuego, C. Skottsberg, 1908.
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C. darwinii var. aristata C. B. Clarke ex Kukenth. SGO 46025, Rio Cruces in Patagonia, Ramon Vidal. 1874*
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C. serranoi Phil. in Audibus inter fluminis Palena et Rinihue, F. Delfin, 1887 Type.
These specimens support Kukenthal's identification of the Chatham Island plant except that the latter lack the distinctive papillose surface to the utricle which is present in the South American specimens. This may be due to the more advanced age of the New Zealand specimens examined.
[Footnote] * Identified by Kukenthal as C. darwinii var. urolepis.
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Text-Fig. 5.—Carex darwinii var. aristata. A, habit; B, glume, C, utricle; D, nut. [Drawn from Dominion Museum specimen collected in Chatham Islands by W. Martin, January, 1924. Identified as C. martini Petrie by D. Petrie]
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The present author suspects, on the basis of the above difference and also that of size, that the New Zealand and South American plants are not con-varietal but as the specimen SGO 46025 is unfortunately in a very immature state it has not been deemed advisable to venture any opinions until more conclusive evidence is available.
Carex coriacea sp. nov.
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C. ternaria var. pallida Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi (1884) 431; Man. N.Z. Fl. i (1906) 820; Man. N.Z. Fl. ii (1925) 265.
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C. t. var. minor Boott forma pallida (Cheesem.) Kukenth. in Engler's Pflanzenr. Heft 38 (1909) 369.
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C. ternaria var. minor Boott Ill Car. iv (1867) 176, t. 597 pl. sinistra.
Rhizomes stout, long, producing tufts of leaves at intervals of 15–20 cms. Leaves 20–40 cm. × 0.3–0.5 cm., strict, hard and coriaceous, shining, lower leaves tapered rather abruptly above, much exceeding the culms. Culms slender, nodding. Spikelets 8–10, 2–3 cm. × 0.3–0.5 cm., geminate or ternate, upper 2–4 male, more or less clavate, remainder female, sometimes with male flowers at the apices. Glumes ovate or obovate, 2 mm. × 1 mm. with a short hispid awn 0.5–1 mm. long, brown with a light 3-nerved midrib and hyaline margins, occasionally pale to almost completely hyaline. Utricles orbicular to broadly ovoid, stipitate and narrowed above into a beak, turgid, coriaceous, smooth and shining with prominent lateral ridges which are sometimes scabrid on the beak. Nut ovate to broadly ovoid to orbicular, completely filling the utricle. Text-fig. 1, Fig. 1.
Habitat: Watercourses and river banks in open tussock country, 1,000–4,000 feet.