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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
3. HypolÆna, R. Br
3. HypolÆna, R. Br.
Stems slender, much branched, often nexuous. Leaves reduced to persistent sheathing scales. Flowers diœcious, in spike-lets with imbricate glumes and no bracteoles; the male spikelets few- or many-flowered, rarely 1-flowered, solitary or 2 together along the branchlets, or several in a terminal panicle; the females 1-flowered, either solitary or 2–3 together near the tips of the branches. Male flowers: Perianth-segments 6, narrow, thin. Stamens 3; filaments filiform; anthers 1-celled. Female flowers: Perianth-segments 6, smaller than in the males, very thin, almost hyaline. Staminodia when present 3. Ovary 1-celled; style-branches 2 or 3, filiform; ovule solitary, pendulous. Fruit an ovoid or obovoid terete indehiscent 1-seeded nut.
A genus consisting of about 12 species natives of South Africa, and 5 found in Australia, one of the latter extending to New Zealand.
| 1. | H. lateriflora, Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 238.—Stems slender, much branched, flexuose and often interlacing, usually from 9–18 in., but sometimes forming dense masses 2–3 ft. high. Sheaths ⅕–⅓ in. long, closely appressed, often ciliate at the mouth, with a short subulate spreading tip. Male spikelets 1 or 2 together in the upper sheaths, each spikelet 3–6-flowered; glumes rather page 762thin, rigid, tip acute. Perianth-segments 6, very narrow-linear, acute. Stamens 3; anthers linear-oblong. Female spikelets solitary within the uppermost sheaths, 1–3-flowered. Perianth-segments 6 or 4, very small, the inner not much longer than the ovary, broadly ovate, thin and hyaline. Style-branches 3. Nut broadly ovoid, terete, with a thick and swollen base.—Calorophus elongatus, Lab. Pl. Nov. Holl. ii. 78, t. 228 (in part); Hook, f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 267; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 297.
Var. minor, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 297.—Much smaller and more slender, sometimes only a few inches high. Male spikelet solitary, 2–3-flowered; female usually 1-fiowered.—Calorophus minor, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 267. North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: The typical form not uncommon in lowland swamps in the North Island, from the North Cape southwards; var. minor abundant in mountain districts throughout. Sea-level to 4500 ft. November–March. Also an abundant Australian and Tasmanian plant. The var. minor passes insensibly into the ordinary form. |