Flora of New Zealand Series

Trithuria inconspicua Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl.  1906,  756.

Type locality: Lake Ngatu, north of Ahipara, Northland. Type: CANTY, "growing on shore of lake in sand, submerged except in dry season", Carse, 1/1/1902; isotype at K.

Slender, 2–4 cm. high, perfectly glab. Roots ∞, comparatively thick, < 0.2 mm. diam. Lvs ∞, 0.5 mm. wide, all radical, erect, linear-filiform, colourless below and ± transparent, the upper third bright green, lamina at maturity often purple-red with a red central vein, tip acute, the base rather broader but not sheathing. Scapes c. 0.2 mm. diam., bright red below infl., at the flowering stage only 2–3 mm. high, but later lengthening when fr. is set to c. ¾ the length of the lvs, or occ. = lvs. Floral bracts 4 or occ. 2, 3 or 5, c. 3–5 mm. long, thin and membr., ovate-lanceolate, acute, with a central nerve; occ. one pair of bracts not fully developed and filiform, or one of the second pair absent, the other filiform. ♂ 2–8 to each infl., bright red; filaments comparatively stout, up to 1 cm. long at maturity, anthers c. 1 mm. long. ♀ c. 10, but occ. as many as 24 to each infl., shortly stipitate; ovary c. 0.5 × 0.4 mm., yellow-brown, with 5–10 unequal, delicate styles bunched at its top; stipe 0.5–1 mm. long, bright red at maturity. Rarely a few infls with 2–4 ♂ and 1–5 ♀. Fr. elliptic-ovoid, red-brown, apiculate with a dark tip; ind.

DIST.: N. Northland, sandy shores of lakes; known from L. Waiparera, L. Ngatu, and L. Rotoroa near Kaitaia, and from L. Rotokawau and L. Pouto, North Head, Kaipara Harbour.

FL. 10–12. FT. 12–2.

Plants with male infls appear to be very rare; in general they have only 1 male infl. but 1–6 female infls, and the scape of the male infl. is us. much shorter than those of the females (Edgar, N.Z. J. Bot. 4, 1966, 153).