subulatis, strictis, ensiformibus, basi dilatatis, vaginantibus cequitantibusve ; scapis axillaribus, brevibus,
compressis, Ifio ris, post anthesin elongatis, rigidis, strictis.
This remarkable genus is contìned to the Andes, mountains of Fuegia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and "Victoria,
where its species form broad, dense, hard, cushion-like, bright-green patches, in bleak, open places.— Culms densely
tufted, covered with the subulate leaves, which are equitant and distichous, or imbricating ; sheaths shining. Flowers
minute, solitary, pedicelled, the pedicel elongating after flowering, and forming a rigid, persistent scape. Scales or
involucral leaves two, opposite, enclosing the flower, deciduous. Ferianth of six ovate-lanccolate, cuspidate, coriaceous,
minute scales, in two series, within which the tliree stamens rise. Style simple at the base, deciduous, with
three stigmata. Nut cnistaceous, obovate, with a broad, depressed, areolar apex, longer than the perianth-scalcs,
which are appressed to it, and do not fall away uitli it, but remain on the pedicel. (Name from opoç, a mountain,
and /SwXos, a ball.)
1. Oreobolus Pumilio (Br. Prodr. 237); foliis distichis, nuce trigona.—Kunth, En. ii. 367. 0 .
pectinatus, Nob. in Fl. Ant. i. 87. t. 4 9 ; Fl. N. Zeal. i. 275. 0 . distichus, F. Muell. in Hook. Lond.
Joum. Bot. viü. 385. [Ounn, 1435.)
Hab. Summits of all the mountains, alt. 3-5000 feet.— (PI. Jan.) [v. v.)
D is tk ib . Mount Hotham, Victoria, Mueller-, mountains of New Zealand and Lord Auckland’s
group.
The leaves of the Tasmanian specimens are often shorter and blunter than the New Zealand and Victoiia ones,
but I find that they vary greatly, and I can discover no other difference.
Gen. X II. CLADIUM, Br.
Spicula parvæ, in paniculas spicasve divisas terminales dispositæ, 1-3-floræ, monospermæ; squamis
undique imbricatis, plerisque vacuis. Squamulæ hypogynæ 0. Filamenia post antliesin non elongata.
Nu x trigona, apice bulboso-incrassata, rarius simplici.— Yæ.àvL perennis ; culmis erectis, simplicibus, foliisque
teretibus angulatis v. ancipitibus ; panicula òasi ramisque basi bracteatis j bracteis interdum spathaceis.
It is impossible to define what the limits of this genus should be, except by examining a vast number of Australian
species, aud Cyperacea of many countries, which are more or less allied to these, and which liave on various
grounds been removed from it, and referred to Chapelliera, Baumea, Fincentia, and other genera. The Tasmanian
and all of the Australian species wliich I have examined, and which have been referred by Brown to Cladium, may
be retained in that genus, for they form a sufficiently natural assemblage, most nearly allied to Lepidosperma, but
differing in habit, in never having the sharp-edged cutting leaves and culms of tliat genus, in wanting the hypogynous
scales attached to the base of the nut, and in having a thickened top to the nut in most species. As in
Lepidosperma, the culms and leaves are flat and two-edged, or terete, or angled, but whereas the majority of Lepi-
dospermæ are two-edged, this is an exceptional character in Cladium. From Gaknia, Cladium is distiuguished by
its less rigid habit, and the filaments not being persistent; but C. Filum has the habit of Gahnia, and C. schcenoides
has that of Lepidosperma linearis. About twenty Australian plants are known to me that I should refer
to Cladium. (Name from kXoSos, a branch -, from the branched infiorescence of the European species.)
a. Culms and leaves terete or angled.
1. Cladinm glomeratum (Br. Prodr. 237); culmis teretibus, foliis elongatis tereti-subulatis cau-
iiuis abbreviatis, panicula coarctata, spiculis 2-3-floris fasciculatis congestisve, fasciculis paniculatis, bracteis
spathaceis, squamis ovatis acuminatis ciliolatis dorso scaberulis, nuce ovato-trigona lævi.— Kunth, En.
ii. 304; Fl. N. Zeal. i. 275. Cladium dubium, Nees, Sieb. Agrost. n. 5. {Gunn, 1013, 1398.)
H a b . Abundant in clayey, sandy, find moist places generally.— (Fl. Dec.) (y. v.)
iM.
D is t r ib . New South Wales and Victoria; New Zealand.
Culms stout, tufted, 2 feet high, glabrous, terete, not jointed, soft, with several leaves at the base, and one or
more above. Leaves terete, subulate. Panicle contracted, 2-4 inches long, with membranous, spathaeeous bracts.
Spikelets very numerous, fascicled, with dark, red-brown scales. Nut three-anglcd, polished.
2. Cladium laxiflorum (Hook, fil.) ; culmis teretibus, foliis elongatis tcreti-subulatis caulinis nullis,
panicula breviuscula subramosa pauciflora, spiculis subalternis uniiloris, squamis ovato-Iaiiccolatis acutis
glabris, bracteis subspathaceis, nuce obovoidea túrgida apice vix incrassata. ( T a b . CXLVIII. A.)
H a b . Swamps near New Norfolk, Oldfield.
This very distinct species resembles the Australian G. glomeratum, Br., in tlie terete culms and radical leaves,
but it is smaller, has no leaf on the sheath or the culm, and the inflorescence is very different. Panicle 14-2
inches long, of three or four few-flowered branches, arising from spathaeeous, long, acuminate bracts. Spikelets
smaO, few, not fascicled. Scales pale red-brown, quite glabrous, acute. Nut broadly obovoid," somewhat trigonous,
with an obscurely thickened, grooved, blunt apex.—P la t e CXLVIII. A. Fig. 1, spikelet ; 2, scale and flower ;
3, pistil ; 4, nut :—all magnified.
3. Cladium junceum (Br. Prodr. 237) ; apliyllum, culmis gracilibus strictis teretibus basi et sub
apice vaginatis, vaginis ungue brevi verticali lateraliter compresse terminatis, spiculis spicatis paucis sub-
geminis sessilibus unifloris, squamis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis dorso scaberulis, nuce trigona obovoidea
apice incrassata hemisphærica pubcrula.—Kunth, En. ii. 304. Lepidosperma striata. Herb. Mus. Brit, et
Nob. in Fl. N. Zeal. i. 279, Br. {Gunn, 969.)
H a b . Abundant in wet, sandy, and heathy places in tbe northern parts of the Island.— (Fl. Nov.,
Dec.) {v.v.)
D is t r ib . New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand.
A densely tufted, slender, wiry species, with long, stout, sheathed runners, recognized at once by the terete,
naked, leafless culms, which bear at the base a long appressed sheath, terminated by a short, laterally flattened,
sickle-shaped claw or leaflet. The inflorescence is a very short, simple, or sparingly branched, few-flowered spike,
abont an inch long.—I erroneously referred this plant to Lepidosperma striata iu the ‘ New Zealand Flora,’ i'rom
finding it so named in the British Museum Herbarium.
4. Cladium Gunnii (Hook, fll.) ; culmis nudis gracillimis strictis foliisque paucis æquilongis teretibus
lævibus basi vaginatis, vaginis appressis obtusis, panicula gracili, ramis 1 -floris brevibus alternis remotis,
bracteis aristatis, squamis lanceolatis acutis glabris, nuce lævi ovoidea breve stipitata obscure tricostata
apice in mamillain crassam abeuute supra basin subconstricta.—Gahnia sulcata, Mueller? {Gunn, 1498.)
(T a b . CXLVIII. B.)
I I a b . Near Formosa, Gunn.— (Fl. Dec.)
D istr ib . ? Victoria, Mueller.
Calms quite leafless above, very slender, terete, wiry, densely tufted, 1-2 feet high. Leaves as long as the
culms, also terete, subulate. Sheaths red, long, with acute apices. Panicle 1-3 inches long, very slender, simple,
few-flowcrcd, with erect, alteniate, rather short branches, arising from small, aristate bracts, and bearing one or two
small spikelets. Scales pale red-brown, linear-lanceolate, acute. Nut turgid, with a short pedicel, obscurely constricted
above the base, its sides smooth and polished, dark-brown, with tluee obscure ridges ; apex tliickened, but
not conspicuously so.—This is very nearly allied indeed to Gahnia sulcata, Mueller, if it be not the same plant;
but it is more slender, and the branches of the panicle nre shorter.—P la t e CXLVIII. B. Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, scale
aud flower; 3, pistil; 4, \\\xi-.—all magH'fied.
5. Cladium tetraquetrum (Hook, fil.) ; robustum, culmis vaginatis compressis, foliis radicalibus acute