Uncinia caespitosa Colenso ex Boott
U. caespitosa Boott var. collina Petrie in T.N.Z.I. 52, 1920, 19.
Type locality: Ruahine Mountains. Type: K, Colenso 1644; isotype at AK.
Laxly caespitose. Culms (4)–10–30–(40) cm. × 0.5–1 mm., glab.; basal bracts dull dark brown or chestnut-brown. Lvs (6)–8–11 per culm, < or = culms, 2–4 mm. wide, rather stiff, often curved, yellow-green, rather flat but with midrib evident on abaxial surface, scabrid on margins and adaxial surface. Spikes (2.5)–4–7–(9) cm. long, often bracteate, subclavate, 4–5 mm. diam. in the female portion of spike, male portion more slender, us. conspicuous, c. 2 mm. diam. and ⅓―¼ the length of the whole spike; female fls (10)–20–35, almost all closely crowded, internodes 1–5 mm. long. Glumes > utricles in lower part of spike, = utricles above, deciduous, ovate or subulate, acute or acuminate, membr., greenish brown or light brown, us. striated, midrib green with 3 distinct nerves, later becoming dark brown. Utricles 5–7 × 1.5–2 mm., trigonous, broadly ovoid, green to grey-brown, dull, faintly nerved except for the prominent lateral nerves, stipe 1–1.5 mm. long, beak 1–2 mm. long.
DIST.: N., S., St.
Grassland and forest margins in mountains from 300–1,800 m. altitude, almost to sea level in the south.
U. caespitosa var. collina Petrie was based on specimens from "Mount Hikurangi (East Coast), at 4,800 ft; Ruahine Mountains, at 3,500 ft: B. C. Aston! Tararua Mountains (Mount Holdsworth), 3,200 ft." Hamlin (1959, p. 50) chose as type, WELT, 1628, Mt Holdsworth, 3,800 ft, Petrie, 25/1/1908.
U. compacta R.Br. var. caespitiformis Kük. in Ckn. Rep. Bot. Surv. St. Id 1909, 42 is represented by WELT 1425, "open places in wet ground in subalpine scrub on Mt Anglem, Stewart Island," L. Cockayne 7871; there are three other specimens at WELT from the same gathering. All fall within U. caespitosa although the fl.-spikes are shorter than normal, being only 2 cm. long, and the culms and lvs are also shorter than usual. These specimens do not match U. viridis as the lvs are too wide and too erect and the whole plant is more robust than in that sp.
