Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Falkland Is. Type: P, Gaudichaud, c. 1820.

Often forming dense tufts. Stems 2–10 cm. × 0.2–0.5 mm., erect, much branched at the base, often creeping and sending out fibrous roots at the lowermost nodes. Lvs ∞, both basal and cauline, 1–20 cm. × 0.5–1 mm., much > stems, herbaceous, narrow-linear, compressed, transversely septate, pale green, tip acute; sheath long, membr., with 2 obtuse auricles. Infl. a simple head of 3–8 crowded fls, rarely a second head is produced. Fls c. 4 mm. long; tepals ± equal, the outer acuminate, the inner ovate-oblong, obtuse or shortly acuminate, light green or light brown. Stamens 6, almost = tepals. Capsule < or > tepals, ovoid, shortly mucronate, light brown or red-brown.

DIST.: Ant., A., C., M.

Recorded also from southern S. America, S. Georgia, Marion, Crozet and Kerguelen Is.

In very wet to moist peat or in free water, sea level to 300 m. altitude.

FL. 12–4. FT. 2–7.

Hooker in Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 291 records a gathering from the Otago lake district by Hector and Buchanan. No specimens have been found at K nor has there been any more recent collection in South Id.

J. scheuchzerioides var. inconspicuus (D'Urv.) Hook. f. (Fl. Antarct. 1, 1844, 80) was described as "not uncommon in gravelly places" on Campbell Id, and consisting of "small specimens . . . often growing in poorer soil in drier localities." It was based on J. inconspicuus D'Urv. (Mém. Soc. linn. Paris 4, 1826, 603) from Falkland Is, but Hooker thought that "it hardly possesses characters sufficient" to rank as a var. of J. scheuchzerioides; and Lourteig (CNFRA-Biologie 23, 1968, 33–49) agreed with Hooker's conclusions.

A chromosome count, 2n = 40, was obtained from Macquarie Id material by Moore (Bot. Notiser 113, 1960, 187.)