Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Cyperaceae Juss.
Genus
Schoenus L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Schoenus nitens (R.Br.) Roem. & Schult. (1817)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Chaetospora nitens R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 233 (1810)
  • ≡ Scirpus nitens (R.Br.) Boeckeler (1870)
 Description

Rhizome long, creeping, woody, up to 1.5 mm. diam., loosely ensheathed by large, membr., imbricating scales. Culms wiry, erect, striated, unbranched, in dense tufts or ± distant along the rhizome. Upper lvs alternate, rigidly setaceous, semi-terete, margins rarely scabrid towards lf-tip; basal lvs reduced to red-purple, grooved, mucronate sheaths. Infl. terminal, capitate with crowded sessile spikelets or a solitary spikelet; subtending bract > infl. Spikelets 2–3-fld. Glumes 5–7, occ. appearing almost spirally arranged because of twisting of rhachilla, broadly ovate, 2–3 lowest smaller, empty. Hypog. bristles 6, us. > nut, yellow-brown and scabrid towards the tip, often branched and very feathery at the base with long white hairs. Stamens 3. Style-branches 3. Nut ovoid or elliptical-oblong, smooth, shining, surface cells very minute, angles no much thickened.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Brown, R. 1810: Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. Johnson, London.
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]
Kaur, N.; Datson, P.M.; Murray, B.G. 2011: Hybridization amongst New Zealand Schoenus (Cyperaceae)? New Zealand Journal of Botany 49(4): 503–507.
Muasya, A.M.; Simpson, D.A. 2002: A monograph of the genus Isolepis R.Br. (Cyperaceae). Kew Bulletin 57(2): 257–362.
Wilson, K.A. 1994: New taxa and combinations in the family Cyperaceae in eastern Australia. Telopea 5(4): 587–625.