Flora of New Zealand Series

U. compacta R.Br. var. divaricata (Boott) Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 309.

U. clarkii Petrie in T.N.Z.I.  20,  1888,  185.

U. compacta R.Br. var. petriei C. B. Clarke in Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 800.

U. compacta R.Br. var. clarkei (Petrie) Kük. in pflanzenr. 38, 1909, 65.

U. divaricata Boott var. petriei (C. B. Clarke) Hamlin in Bull. Dom. Mus., Wellington 19, 1959, 57.

Original localities: "Northern Island; Ruahine Mountains, Colenso. Middle Island; Milford Sound, Lyall." Type: K, Milford Sound, Lyall.

Laxly caespitose or shortly rhizomatous, rhizome 1–2 mm. diam. Culms 1–16–(40) cm. × 0.5–1–(2) mm., erect or ascending, rigid, subtrigonous, glab.; basal bracts dull yellow-brown or darker brown. Lvs 4–8–(12) per culm, us. < mature culms but occ. = or > culms, (1.5)–2–4 mm. wide, rather soft to coriac., dark yellowish green, scabrid on margins. Spikes 1–4.5 cm. × 4–10 mm., female fls ∞, densely crowded, internodes almost all equal, 0.5–1 mm. long. Glumes occ. > utricles in lower part of spike, = or < utricles above, deciduous, subulate or ovate, obtuse to subacute, membr., hyaline, or light to dark brown and opaque, midrib green with the 3 nerves not very conspicuous, midrib of 1–3 lowest glumes often scabrid and occ. produced in lowermost glume to a scabrid awn. Utricles 3.5–4.5–(5) × 1–1.5 mm., trigonous or subtrigonous with conspicuous lateral nerves, greenish brown to dark brown, widely spreading when ripe, contracted below to a broad stipe c. 1 mm. long, beak 1–1.5 mm. long.

DIST.: N. Southwards from c. lat. 38º. S. Throughout. C.

Open forest, scrub, river bed, tussock grassland, herbfield or bog, (300)–900–1,800 m. altitude.

Some plants from North Otago and also a specimen from the Copland R., South Westland, have soft, flaccid Ivs and long spikes with dark brown utricles and glumes. C. B. Clarke described this form as U. compacta var. petriei and Petrie also described it as U. compacta var. clarkei. The type of var. petriei is K, Eweburn Petrie, and Hamlin (1959, p. 57–8) chose as lectotype for var. clarkei, WELT 1388, Eweburn Creek, 750 m., Petrie, Feb. 1886, as this specimen seemed to be from the same gathering as the type of var. petriei.

C. B. Clarke (J. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) 20, 1883, 395) and Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 245) referred U. divaricata to the Australian U. compacta R. Br. The N.Z. plants differ from U. compacta in their laxer habit with softer lvs; in Australian specimens of U. compacta examined, the utricles are much larger, c. 5 × 2 mm., and there are fewer fls in each spike than in U. divaricata. Lourteig (CNFRA-Biologie 23, 1968, 25–31) listed as synonyms of U. compacta R.Br. the following spp. from N.Z.: U. rupestris Raoul, U. hookeri Boott, U. divaricata Boott, U. nervosa Boott and U. involuta Hamlin.