Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Bunnythorpe, near Palmerston North. Type: CHR, 1810, V. D. Zotov, 6/3/1930.

Small, tightly packed clumps. Rhizome 2–4 mm. diam., horizontal. Flowering stems 25–75 cm. × 0.75–1.5 mm., ± smooth, dull green or reddish, pith interrupted in a regular pattern by very small lacunae, pith partitions us. wider than cavities between; lvs 0; basal bracts short and closely sheathing, lower bracts bright red-brown, the upper straw-coloured. Infl. apparently lateral, compact, few-fld, composed of 2 small clusters c. 1 cm. wide, one pressed against the stem, the other at the end of a longer, slender branchlet, occ. each of the two clusters with a smaller subsidiary cluster. Fls 2.3–3 mm. long; tepals red-brown with light green centre at anthesis, becoming entirely red-brown as fr. matures. Stamens 3–4, rarely more in occasional fls. Capsule 2.5–3 mm. long, often > tepals, oblong-ovoid, obtuse, shining, chestnut-brown, often with a very dark brown tip.

DIST.: N., S., Ch.

Scattered throughout, from sea level to 1,000 m. altitude, us. in damp ground but often on drier, grassy hillsides; uncommon in, or absent from some districts, especially north of lat. 40º, while it is locally abundant in South Id in some parts of Canterbury and Otago.

FL. 10–12. FT. 12–2.

The few-fld infl., us. composed of a sessile cluster and a lateral cluster on a longer branchlet, is a characteristic feature of this rather slender rush.