Flora of New Zealand Series

Light reddish tufts. Mature culms 10–20 cm. × c. 0.5–1 mm., smooth, terete; basal sheaths grey-brown or light brown. Lvs > culms, up to 35 cm. long, plano- or concavo-convex, reddish, margins scabrid with rather distant teeth, tip cirrhose. Infl. of 4–6, ± sessile, ± approximate spikes; terminal spike male, remainder female, us. with male fls at the base, 0.5–1–(1.5) cm. × 3–5 mm., ovate or cylindrical. Glumes = or < utricles, broadly ovate or oblong, pale brown with light red markings, emarginate, the green midrib produced to a short scabrid awn. Utricles ovoid to rhomboid, trigonous or irregularly inflated, yellowish, often red near the tip, striate or faintly ribbed, shining; beak scarcely evident, 0.3 mm. long at most, black or dark red-brown, margins smooth, orifice entire or minutely bidentate, scabrid; stipe c. 0.3 mm. long. Stigmas 3. Nut c. 1 × 1 mm., elliptic-obovoid, trigonous, cream to dark brown.