Flora of New Zealand Series

U. compacta R.Br. var. nervosa (Boott) C. B. Clarke in J. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) 20, 1883, 395.

U. cheesemanniana Boeck. in Engl. Bot. Jb.  5,  1884,  521.

Original locality: "Tasmania, Gunn (mixed with U. tenella)." Type: K.

Laxly or densely caespitose. Culms 10–20–(30) cm. long, us. slightly < but. occ. > 0.5 mm. diam., glab.; basal bracts dull grey-brown. Lvs 4–6 per culm, slightly < flowering culms, much < mature culms, c. 0.5 mm. wide, plano-convex or concavo-convex, rigid, linear, scarcely narrowed to the obtuse tip, margins scabrid. Spikes 1.5–2–(3) cm. × 2–3–(6) mm., oblong, female fls (2)–4–7–(12), ± close-set, internodes 1.5–3–(4) mm. long. Glumes < or > utricles, deciduous, lanceolate, subacute, sides membr., midrib green. Utricles 4–5–(6) × c. 1 mm., trigonous, elliptic-lanceolate, greenish brown to dark brown, lateral nerves prominent, shining, very slightly contracted to a broad stipe c. 1mm. long, beak 1–1.5 mm. long.

DIST.: N. Southwards from c. lat. 39º. S. Nelson, and local in Westland, Fiordland, Canterbury and Otago. St.

Boggy ground, us. in snow-tussock grassland from 300–1,800 m. altitude.

It is possible that U. nervosa was not collected in Tasmania at all for it has not since been found in that country. Hamlin (Bull. Dom. Mus., Wellington 19, 1959, 60) gives the following notes on the type of U. nervosa Boott. "The species was described from plants found amongst a collection of U. tenella from Tasmania. Gunn's label gave the habitat as 'in dense forests on stones, dead trees with mosses, Jungermannia etc.' (fide Boott on Type sheet). This habitat is normal for U. tenella but completely foreign to U. nervosa so that, if they were mixed together from separate collections, there is nothing to show from whence the nervosa gathering came."

U. cheesemanniana Boeck. was based on specimens from "Mt Nelson alt. 4,000 ped.—T. F. CHEESEMAN leg." There is one sheet in a type folder at K with 2 specimens (a) Mt Arthur, Nelson, alt. 4,000', T. F. Cheeseman 76, Jan., 1881, (b) T. F. Cheeseman 74, Jan., 1881; AK 2330 is a duplicate of one of these gatherings.

The types of both U. nervosa and U. cheesemanniana are robust specimens which are easily matched against plants from N.W. Nelson. More slender specimens are occ. collected in N.W. Nelson, sts from the same localities as robust plants; elsewhere in N.Z. only slender plants are found. Since the robust plants are not as common as the slender ones their measurements are given in brackets in the species description even though they match the type. These stouter specimens have stiffly erect culms and very rigid lvs. The culms are often > 0.5 mm. diam., the spikes 4–6 mm. diam., and utricles > 1 mm. diam. but with slightly shorter beak and stipe. There are 7–12 female fls, but these are more close-set than in slender plants and the internodes are 1–2 mm. long.

U. nervosa is distinct from all other N.Z. spp. of Uncinia in having plano-convex lvs with obtuse tips.