Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Cyperaceae Juss.
Genus
Isolepis R.Br.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Isolepis aucklandica Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 88, t.50 (1844)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Scirpus aucklandicus (Hook.f.) Boeckeler (1870)
  • = Isolepis cartilaginea var. rigida Berggr. (1877)
  • = Isolepis subcucullata Berggr., Minneskr. Kongl. Fysiogr. Sällsk. Lund 8: 22, t.5, f. 16-20 (1877)
  • ≡ Scirpus aucklandicus var. subcucullata (Berggr.) C.B.Clarke in Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 773 (1906)
  • = Scirpus muscosus Kirk, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 17: 224 (1885)
 Description

Rhizomatous, forming large, turfy patches, bright green above, fuscous towards the base. Rhizome c. 0.5 mm. diam. Culms 2–5–(7) cm. × c. 0.5 mm., rigid. Lvs up to 6 per culm, us. > culms, c. 0.5 mm. wide, or often setaceous and filiform, coriac., curved; sheaths with truncate orifice, pale brown and membr., often streaked with red, rarely entirely dark red-purple. Infl. apparently lateral, of 1–(2) narrow-oblong spikelets, (1)–2–3–(4) × (0.5)–1–1.5–(2) mm., partly hidden by the enlarged base of a subtending bract up to 5 times length of spikelet. Glumes 1.5–2.5 mm. long, lanceolate, acute, deciduous, green to pale grey-brown with reddish marks, to deep red-purple, margins tapered and often pinched in at the tip below the green, thickened, ± excurrent keel. Hypog. bristles 0. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut 1–2 mm. long, slightly > 0.5 mm. wide, almost = glume, elliptical, ± trigonous with rounded angles, almost white to yellowish, or grey- to red-brown, smooth and shining but very finely reticulate, tapering towards the apiculate black tip.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2 as Scirpus aucklandicus (Hook.f.) Boeckeler]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Berggren, S. 1877: Några nya eller ofullständigt kända Arter af Nya-Zeeländska fanerogamer. Minneskrift Utgifven af Kongl. Fysiografiska Sällskapet i Lund 8: 1–33.
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Kirk, T. 1885 ("1884"): On the Flowering Plants of Stewart Island. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 17: 213–228.
Muasya, A.M.; Simpson, D.A. 2002: A monograph of the genus Isolepis R.Br. (Cyperaceae). Kew Bulletin 57(2): 257–362.