Flora of New Zealand Series

J. pauciflorus Kirk in T.N.Z.I.  9,  1877,  551 

non R. Br. Prodr. 1810, 259.

J. brevifolius Kirk in T.N.Z.I.  14,  1882,  384 

non Liebm. in Vidensk. Medd. dansk naturh. Foren. 1850, 40.

Original locality: "Campbell's Island; on the exposed summits of the mountains: alt. 1,000 feet, rare." Lectotype: K, 1623, J. D Hooker, Dec., 1840.

Tufted. Stems 2–12 cm. long, c. 1 mm. diam. at the base, tapering above. Lvs ∞, all basal, = or < stems, 1.5–7 cm. × c. 1 mm., lamina linear-subulate, solid, non-septate, canaliculate above, almost terete towards the obtuse tip, flattened towards the base; sheath broad, without auricles. Infl. a single, terminal, 2–10-fld head, 3–7–(10) mm. wide, very rarely 2 heads are present, the lower being smaller. Fls c. 3 mm. long; tepals ± equal, us. dark brown almost black, rarely light brown. Stamens 3, or rarely 6. Capsule almost = tepals, ovoid to oblong, black and shining towards the acute tip, mucro short and blunt.

DIST.: N. South of lat. 39º s., St., A., C.

Also recorded from Australia.

Local in boggy ground, us. at altitudes from 450–1,600 m., but descends to sea level in Otago and in the Subantarctic Is.

HYBRIDISM

In sect. Genuini  Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot. 48, 1934, 15–16) listed hybrids among most spp. recognised in N.Z. at that time. Edgar (N.Z. J. Bot. 2, 1964, 202–3) reported artificial hybrids J. australis × distegus (F 1 fertile), J. distegus × gregiflorus (F 1 fertile), J. australis × pallidus (F 1 sterile). Herbarium specimens of natural hybrids J. australis × distegus are CHR 25665, 45101, 51172, and of J. distegus × gregiflorus are CHR 25658, 45098, 111348 and 113636. Apart from these I have seen no certain evidence of natural hybridism in specimens of sect. Genuini though it is probable that specimens which are difficult to determine are hybrids.

Other hybrids of doubtful status recorded by Cockayne and Allan (loc. cit.) are J. caespiticius × planifolius and J. novae-zelandiae × pusillus.

E. J. Godley after the Campbell Id Expedition of 1961/2 reported that J. antarcticus was no longer rare on the island.

Hooker described J. antarcticus as having 6 stamens, and the fls in his t. 46 appear to have 6 stamens, but all Campbell Id specimens seen, including living plants, have 3 stamens. Plants from the mainland of N.Z. also us. have 3 stamens, but one specimen, AK 3002, Mt Arthur Plateau, T. F. Cheeseman, Jan., 1881, has 6 stamens, capsules very much > tepals, and lvs > stems.

J. pauciflorus Kirk, as represented by WELT 11170 from the type locality, Broken River, and labelled in Kirk's hand, is identical with J. antarcticus except that its tepals are mostly pale; there is a probable isotype at K. Kirk gives "swamps by the Thomas River, Canterbury, at an altitude of 2,000 feet" as the type locality for J. brevifolius —a nomenclatural change for J. pauciflorus but a name which was also preoccupied. The Thomas River and Broken River are both in the Castle Hill Basin, and a representative specimen of J. brevifolius is WELT 11143, Castle Hill Basin, 2,300 ft, T. Kirk, 1043. Some specimens from Nelson and recent collections from Broken River have very pale tepals similar to those of Kirk's specimens of J. pauciflorus and J. brevifolius.

ADDITIONAL SPECIES RECORDED FOR NEW ZEALAND

J. filiformis L. Sp. P1, 1753, 326. This was listed in Richard, Essai Fl. N.Z. 1832, 145 but has not since been reported and no supporting herbarium specimens have been seen.

J. cephalotes Thunb. Prodr. Pl. Cap. 1794, 66. This was cited as a synonym of J. holoschoenus by Hooker in Handbk N.Z., Fl., 1864, 290; however, J. cephalotes belongs to sect. Graminifolii and not to sect. Septati where J. holoschoenus is placed.