Flora of New Zealand Series

Chaetospora nitens R.Br. Prodr.  1810,  233.

Scirpus nitens (R.Br.) Boeck. in  Linnaea  36,  1870, 696.

Rhizome long, creeping, woody, up to 1.5 mm. diam., loosely ensheathed by large, membr., imbricating scales. Culms wiry, erect, striated, unbranched, in dense tufts or ± distant along the rhizome. Upper lvs alternate, rigidly setaceous, semi-terete, margins rarely scabrid towards lf-tip; basal lvs reduced to red-purple, grooved, mucronate sheaths. Infl. terminal, capitate with crowded sessile spikelets or a solitary spikelet; subtending bract > infl. Spikelets 2–3-fld. Glumes 5–7, occ. appearing almost spirally arranged because of twisting of rhachilla, broadly ovate, 2–3 lowest smaller, empty. Hypog. bristles 6, us. > nut, yellow-brown and scabrid towards the tip, often branched and very feathery at the base with long white hairs. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut ovoid or elliptical-oblong, smooth, shining, surface cells very minute, angles no much thickened.