Class
Order
Family
Genus
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Isolepis basilaris Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. (1867)
Synonymy:
- ≡ Scirpus basilaris (Hook.f.) C.B.Clarke, Man. New Zealand Fl. 772 (1906)
- = Isolepis novae-zealandiae Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 21: 102 (1888 [1889]) – as Isolepis novæ-zealandiæ
Description
Dwarf, dense, moss-like tufts 3–9 cm. across, bright green above, reddish brown below. Rhizome < 1 mm. diam., much branched; sheathing bract at each node loose, membr., with red nerves. Culms < 1.5 rarely up to 3 cm. long, < 0.5 mm. diam. Lvs 1–2 on each branch, much > culms, 0.5–4–(6) cm. long, < 0.5 mm. wide, setaceous, plano-convex; sheath membr., red-nerved. Infl. an apparently lateral, single spikelet, or rarely 2, hidden among the lvs, pale green, occ. with red markings; subtending bract lf-like, channelled, very much > culm from which it arises and almost = lvs. Spikelets 2.5–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm., elliptical or oblong. Glumes 1–2 mm. long, ovate, elliptical, obtuse, white and membr., or with patches of red on the sides; keel thick, green, occ. slightly excurrent. Hypog. bristles 0. Stamens 2, rarely 3. Style-branches 2, occ. 3. Nut c. 0.5 × 0.5 mm., c. ⅔ length of glume, obovoid to suborbicular, plano-convex, dorsally rounded, noticeably apiculate, red-brown to dark brown, almost black, surface often shining but distinctly reticulate.
[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2 as Scirpus basilaris (Hook.f.) C.B.Clarke]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
Colenso, W. 1889: A description of some newly-discovered Phænogamic plants; being a further contribution towards the making known the botany of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 21: 80–108.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Nationally Endangered]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
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. [Declining]
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. [Nationally Vulnerable]
Hooker, J.D. 1867: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's, and Macquarrie's Islands. Part II. Reeve, London.
Muasya, A.M.; Simpson, D.A. 2002: A monograph of the genus Isolepis R.Br. (Cyperaceae). Kew Bulletin 57(2): 257–362.
