Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Cyperaceae Juss.
Genus
Isolepis R.Br.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Isolepis inundata R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 222 (1810)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Scirpus inundatus (R.Br.) Poir. (1817) nom. illeg. – as inundata
  • ≡ Scirpus inundatus (R.Br.) Spreng., Syst. Veg., ed. 16 [Sprengel] 1, 207 (1824)
  • = Isolepis propinqua R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 222 (1810)
  • = Isolepis conspersa Nees (1833)
  • ≡ Scirpus conspersus (Nees) Boeckeler (1870)
  • ≡ Scirpus conspersus (Nees) Laing (1915) nom. inval., nom. superfl.
  • = Isolepis propinqua Nees (1841) nom. illeg.
  • ≡ Scirpus cartilagineus var. propinqua (Nees) Benth., Fl. Austral. 7, 328 (1878)
  • = Isolepis gunnii Steud. (1855)
  • = Isolepis urvillei Steud. (1855)
  • ≡ Scirpus urvillei (Steud.) Boeckeler (1870)
  • = Isolepis multinervosa Boeckeler (1858)
  • = Scirpus inundatus var. major Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 775 (1906)
 Description

Culms 6–30–(50) cm. × (0.4)–0.7–1.2–(1.8) mm., tufted, ∞, erect, often rather rigid, terete, bright green. Lvs 1, or rarely 2–3 at the base of the culm, < 1 mm. wide; frequently reduced to a single, mucronate, red basal bract, mucro us. short. Infl. an apparently lateral, solitary head of (1)–3–6–(10) crowded spikelets, often proliferous with 1–3 slender branchlets each terminated by a smaller head of spikelets, subtending bract us. slightly > spikelets. Spikelets (2)–3–4–(5) × 1.5–2.5–(3) mm., ovate or oblong-ovate, often dark red-purple. Glumes 1.5–2 mm. long, oblong-obovate, obtuse or ± acute, with a large dark red to black patch on either side of the pale green keel, with ∞ distinct, light brown nerves, margins entire, white and membr., flattened at the tip beside the keel. Hypog. bristles 0. Stamens 1, very rarely 2. Style-branches 3, or rarely 2–3. Nut c. 1 × 0.5 mm., slightly > ½ length of glume, conspicuously trigonous or occ. biconvex, distinctly mucronate, pale strawcoloured, almost white, occ. grey-brown, surface distinctly reticulate.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2 as Scirpus inundatus (R.Br.) Poir.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Bentham, G. 1878: Flora Australiensis. Vol. 7. Reeve, London.
Brown, R. 1810: Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. Johnson, London.
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]
Muasya, A.M.; Simpson, D.A. 2002: A monograph of the genus Isolepis R.Br. (Cyperaceae). Kew Bulletin 57(2): 257–362.
Sprengel, C.P.J. 1824: Systema vegetabilium [Caroli Linnaei ... ]. Editio decima sexta. Vol. 1. Göttingen.