Flora of New Zealand Series

C. martinii Petrie in T.N.Z.I. 56, 1926, 7 non Lév. et Vaniot in Bull. Acad. int. Géogr. bot. 3, ser. 11, 1902, 57.

Original locality: "Lord Auckland's group; on the margins of woods near the sea, but not common, growing with the C. trifida." Type: K, J. D. Hooker, Ross voyage.

Rhizomatous; in robust, dark green clumps to 180 cm. tall. Rhizome 5–10 mm. diam., closely covered with red-brown sheaths. Culms 30–90–(150) cm. × 3–5 mm., triquetrous, scabrid; basal sheaths red-brown, margins shredding into fibres. Lvs > culms, 4–10–(17) mm. wide, double-folded, margins and keel finely scabrid. Spikes 7–13–(16), in both sexes varying from 1–8 cm. in length, distant, peduncles us. ± = or > spikes, stout, stiff and erect, or more slender and drooping; upper (2)–4–5–(7) spikes male, c. (4)–6 mm. diam. (excluding very prominent awns); lower spikes female, 5–8 mm. diam., lowest spikes geminate or ternate. Glumes of male spikes ± truncate to acute, with scabrid awns occ. up to 1 cm. long; glumes of female spikes (excluding awn) ± = utricles, narrow-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, acute, red-brown, membr., with lighter brown, broad midrib produced to a finely scabrid awn up to 6 mm. long (awn occ. very dark red). Utricles c. 2–3 × 1.5–2 mm., plano-convex to biconvex, elliptic-obovoid, ± turgid, light yellow-brown, sts red-brown towards the base, nerves 5 or more on each face, margins smooth; beak c. 0.2–(0.4) mm. long, often lighter brown, very narrow, orifice glab., very slightly bifid; stipe c. 0.3 mm. long, narrow. Stigmas 2. Nut 1.5–2 mm. long, biconvex, obovoid, shining, brown.

DIST.: Ch., Ant., A.

The type is immature but the long awns on the glumes are very distinct and the male spikes are thicker than male spikes of a comparable age in any of the three other spp. related to C. ternaria.

Although Hooker cited C. geminata Schkuhr as a synonym, it is clear that the first published description of C. ternaria was based on Auckland Is plants whereas none of the specimens available to Schkuhr when he described his sp. could have come from the Subantarctic Is.

Besides the type gathering only two collections are known from Auckland Is; P 2813, Le Guillou, 1841 (Voyage de l'Astrolabe et de la Zélee), and WELT 40767, F. R. Chapman, Jan., 1890. Active botanical exploration in recent years on Auckland Is has provided no further material of C. ternaria.

C. martinii. Type: WELT, 32698 A. "Lagoon shore, 2 miles inland from Wharekauri" W. Martin; with a note in Martin's hand "standing up to 6 ft high". Hamlin (T.R.S.N.Z. 85, 1958, 386) noted for Chatham Is plants of C. ternaria "The large form of this species was observed in two localities on Pitt Island, both clumps being in standing water. The small form only was collected on the main Chatham Island, each time being in peat on sloping ground." The larger plants collected by Hamlin (WELT 3335) match the type of C. martinii, and WELT 14577 in Herb. Oliver is another very robust specimen.

Kükenthal (Pflanzenr. 38, 1909, 369) referred a specimen from the Chatham Is, Cockayne 8394, to the S. American C. darwinii var. urolepis (Franch.) Kük. (a superfluous name for C. darwinii var. aristata C. B. Clarke ex Kük. in Engl. Bot. Jb. 27, 1899, 529). I have examined some half dozen specimens of S. American plants referred to C. darwinii and its var. aristata and all have utricles with the distinctly papillose surface which is apparently a diagnostic character of C. darwinii, whereas utricles of C. ternaria lack papillae. S. American plants differ also from C. ternaria in larger utricles, almost black glumes which give the whole infl. a darker appearance, and in shorter and proportionately broader spikes, the male especially being ovate instead of elongate-oblong.