Baumea Gaudich.
Type sp.: B. glomerata Gaud. from the Moluccas.
Infl. a ± narrow, us. upright panicle, or effuse and drooping, or spike-like. Spikelets 1–2-(4)-fld, 1 or rarely 2 lowest fls setting fr. Glumes obscurely distichous to spiral. Hypog. bristles 0. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Fr. with hard bony endocarp and ± spongy thick or thin mesocarp when mature, not winged, sessile and rounded at the base or minutely stipitate, crowded by a persistent, ± hairy, sts inconspicuous style-base. Perennial herbs. Lvs. us. basal, laterally compressed, terete, 4-angled or reduced to sheathing bracts, distichous. Some 30 Spp. from Madagascar and the Mascarene Is, India, Japan, Hawaii, Malesia, Pacific Is, Australia and N.Z. Two N.Z. spp. endemic; 5 spp. occur also in Australia and 4 of these are also found in Malesia or E. Asia.
Key
FL. 10–12–(2). FT. 12–2.
All N.Z. spp. treated as Baumea were formerly placed in Cladium (see above under Machaerina). Blake (Contrib. Qd Herb. no. 8, 1969, 22–30 and fig. 1) drew attention to differences in structure of the frs in Machaerina and Baumea. His observations have allowed a more rigid circumscription of Baumea to be made.
