# Manual of the New Zealand Flora/Naiadaceæ

Order LXXXVIII. NAIADACEÆ.
Submerged or floating fresh-water or marine aquatic plants, or marsh herbs. Stems often elongated, slender, branched, jointed; sometimes short and almost wanting. Leaves very various, altogether submerged and translucent, or floating and opaque, or all radical, sheathing at the base; stipules wanting or interpetiolar, ​connate and sheathing. Flowers small and inconspicuous, usually green, hermaphrodite or unisexual, variously arranged. Perianth either wanting, or of 3–6 inferior segments valvate in bud. Stamens 1–6, hypogynous; anthers basifixed, erect, 1–2-celled. Ovary superior, of 1–6 distinct or more or less connate carpels, each 1-celled with usually a single erect or pendulous ovule; style long or short, stigma various. Fruit of 1–6 indehiscect nutlets or utricles, rarely drupaceous. Seed solitary, testa membranous; albumen wanting; embryo straight or curved, radicle unusually large.
A small order, dispersed over the whole world in marshy places, ponds, lakes, rivers, &c., also including some widely spread marine plants. Genera 16, species estimated at 120. The order cannot be said to have any important properties or uses. With the exception of Lepilæna, which is found elsewhere in Australia alone, all the New Zealand genera have a wide range in both temperate and tropical climates.
A. Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth of 4–6 herbaceous segments. :
| Marsh plants with linear radical leaves. Flowers on erect scapes. Perianth-segments 6 | 1. Triglochin. |
| Aquatic plants with submerged or floating stems and leaves. Flowers in axillary or terminal spikes. Perianth-segments 4 | 2. Potamogeton. |
| B. Flowers unisexual (except in Ruppia). Perianth wanting or minute and hyaline. ||
| * Stems and leaves filiform, submerged. |
| Flowers hermaphrodite, 2 or 3 on a peduncle greatly elongating in fruit. Perianth wanting. Stamens 2; anthers almost sessile | 3. Ruppia. |
| Flowers unisexual, axillary, nearly sessile. Perianth wanting or female small and hyaline. Stamen 1, filament slender | 4. Zannichellia. |
| Flowers unisexual, axillary, nearly sessile. Perianth of 3 hyaline scales. Stamens 3; anthers sessile, cohering by their backs into a columnar mass | 5. Lepilæna. |
| ** Stems creeping in sand or mud in salt water. Leaves ribbon-like, flat, nerved. ||
| Flowers unisexual, enclosed in the membranous sheathing base of a floral leaf | 6. Zostera. |
1. TRIGLOCHIN, Linn.
Perennial marsh herbs. Roots fibrous. Leaves all radical, filiform or rush-like, flat or terete. Scapes slender, naked, erect, bearing a raceme or spike of small green hermaphrodite flowers. Perianth-segments 3 or 6, herbaceous, concave, deciduous. Stamens 6, inserted on the base of the perianth-segments; filaments very short; anthers didymous, extrorse. Carpels 6, distinct or more or less connate; stigmas penicillate; ovules solitary in ​each carpel, basilar, erect, anatropous. Fruit of 3 or 6 free or connate coriaceous nutlets separating from a central axis. Seeds erect, cylindric or ovoid, terete or compressed; testa membranous; embryo straight.
About 12 species are known, spread through most temperate or subtropical regions, but especially plentiful in Australia. Both the New Zealand species are widely distributed.
Triglochin is often regarded as forming (with 3 other small genera) a distinct order (Juncaqinaceæ), but for the purposes of this work it appears most convenient to merge it with the Naiadaceæ.
| Scape 3–10 in. high. Fruit subglobose | 1. T. striatum. |
| Scape 6–24 in. high. Fruit clavate | 2. T. palustre. |
1. T. striatum, Ruiz and Pav. Fl. Per. iii. 72; var. filifolium, Buch. Index Crit. (1868) 59.—Rhizome short, stoloniferous. Leaves numerous, very narrow-linear or almost filiform, semiterete, variable in length, shorter or rather longer than the scape. Scape 3–10 in. high; raceme usually occupying about one-half the length. Flowers numerous, shortly pedicelled, minute, about 1/12 in. diam. Outer perianth-segments broadly ovate; inner smaller and narrower. Perfect stamens 3, at the base of the outer segments; three inner abortive, without pollen, sometimes altogether wanting. Fruit globose, 1/10 in. diam., of 3 perfect carpels separating from a central axis and leaving 3 scale-like barren ones attached to it.—Buchenau in Pflanzenreich, Heft iv. 14. T. striatum, Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 166. T. triandrum, Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i. 208; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 236; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 278. T. flaccidum, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 321; Raoul, Choix, 41. T. filifolium, Sieb. ex Sprang. Syst. iv. 142; Hook. Ic. Plant. 579.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout in marshes near the sea; also inland in various localities in the thermal-springs district from Te Aroha and Rotorua to Taupo and Tokaanu. October–January.
The New Zealand variety is also found in Australia, Tasmania, and Chili; the typical state ranges throughout almost the whole of North and South America, and also occurs in South Africa.
2. T. palustre, Linn. Sp. Plant. 338.—Rhizome short, stoloniferous. Leaves all radical, much shorter than the scape, narrow-linear or filiform, semiterete, upper surface faintly grooved. Scape slender, 6–24 in. high; raceme elongating after flowering. Flowers numerous, shortly pedicelled, minute, green or greenish-purple. Perianth-segments ovate, all equal. Stamens 6, all fertile; anthers purple. Fruit appressed to the rhachis, linear-clavate, ¼ in. long; carpels 3, very slender, almost awned at the base, attached to the axis by the tip.—Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 300.
South Island: Canterbury-Broken River, J. D. Enys and T.F.C.; Rangitata Valley, Haast! Lake Tekapo and Tasman Valley, T.F.C. Otago—Ophir, Black's, Petrie! 2000–3000 ft. December–January.
A plant with a wide distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, also found in extratropical South America, but not yet detected in Australia.
2. POTAMOGETON, Linn.
Perennial aquatic herbs. Stems slender, simple or branched. Leaves wholly submerged and translucent, or floating and opaque, alternate or opposite, entire or toothed; stipules intrafoliar, free, or adnate to the petiole or base of the leaf. Flowers small, green, hermaphrodite, ebracteate, sessile in a dense spike on an axillary peduncle arising from a membranous spathe. Perianth-segments 4, small, herbaceous, concave, valvate. Stamens 4, inserted at the base of the segments; anthers sessile, 2-celled, extrorse. Carpels 4, sessile, distinct, 1-celled; stigma oblique, decurrent; ovules solitary, aflixed to the inner angle of the cell, campylotropous. Ripe carpels or drupelets 4, small, coriaceous or spongy, ovoid or subglobose, obtuse or beaked by the recurved persistent stigma, 1-seeded. Seed curved, reniform; testa membranous; embryo with a large radicle and narrow incurved cotyledon.
A genus widely spread in the fresh or brackish waters of almost all temperate or subtropical regions, more rare in the tropics. Species variously estimated at from 40 to 100 or more, according to the different views of authors, extremely variable, and most difficult of discrimination. The New Zealand forms have never been carefully sought for, and in all probability other species will be added to those described herein.
A. Floating leaves more or less coriaceous, with a broad long-petioled lamina, different in shape from the membranous submerged ones. Stipules free. :
| Floating leaves 2–4 in., biplicate at the base. Submerged leaves wanting or reduced to phyllodes. Fruit large, ⅙ in. long, keeled on the back when dry | 1. P. natans. |
| Floating leaves 1–3 in., not plicate at the base. Submerged leaves few, linear-lanceolate. Fruit small, 1/12–1/10 in., rounded on the back | 2. P. polygonifolius. |
| Floating leaves ¾–1¾ in. Submerged leaves numerous, 2–4 in. Fruit small, 1/10 in., keeled on the back when dry | 3. P. Cheesemanii. |
| B. Leaves all submerged and uniform, sessile, membranous. ||
| Leaves 1–4 in. by ⅛–¼ in., linear-ligulate, obtuse; stipules free, lacerate. Spike dense | 4. P. ochreatus. |
| Leaves 2–4 in. by 1/20–1/15 in., very narrow-linear or filiform; stipules adnate. Spike interrupted | 5. P. pectinatus. |
1. P. natans, Linn. Sp. Plant. 126.—Stems creeping below, long or short, simple or sparingly branched, terete. Floating leaves on long petioles; lamina 2–4 in. long, oblong or elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, acute or subacute, subcordate and shortly biplicate at the base, coriaceous, 20–30-nerved with copious cross-veins and ​minute areolation; stipules very long and conspicuous, 3–5 in., free, acuminate. Submerged leaves wanting or if present few and reduced to long and narrow phyllodes without any lamina. Peduncles stout, 2–4 in. long, bearing a dense-flowered spike 1½–2 in. long. Perianth-segments broadly rhomboidal. Fruit ⅙ in. long, turgid, obliquely ovoid, keeled on the back when dry, beak short.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zeal. i. 236; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 278; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 170 (in part); A. Bennett in Journ. Bot. xxv. (1887) 177.
North and South Islands: Probably not uncommon.
A widely dispersed plant, found in nearly all temperate climates. Its exact distribution in New Zealand is not yet made out with certainty, as P. Cheesemanii has been recorded in mistake for it in many localities, but I have seen specimens from both Islands.
2. P. polygonifolius, Pourr. in Mem. Acad. Toul. iii. (1788) 325.—Stem creeping at the base, long or short, simple or sparingly branched. Floating leaves on long petioles; lamina 1–3 in. long, elliptic-oblong to lanceolate, acute or obtuse, rounded or subcordate or acute at the base, not plicate, thinly coriaceous; stipules much shorter than in P. natans, 1–1½ in. long. Submerged leaves linear-lanceolate, acute. Peduncles variable in length, rather slender; spike dense-flowered, ¾–1½ in. long. Perianth-segments transversely elliptic. Fruit small, reddish, 1/12–1/10 in. long, blunt and rounded on the back, not keeled, beak very short.—Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. (1871) 165.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Ponds and small streams from the North Cape southwards, not uncommon. Sea-level to 1500 ft. December–April.
Distinguished from P. natans by the smaller and more membranous leaves, much shorter stipules, slender peduncles, and much smaller fruit not keeled on the back when dry. Several of my specimens have been examined by Mr. A. Bennett, of Croydon, whose knowledge of the genus is unrivalled, and he informs me that their identity with P. polygonifolius cannot be questioned; The species is widely spread in Europe and Asia, and has been recorded from Australia.
3. P. Cheesemanii, A. Bennett in Journ. Bot. xxi. (1883) 66.—Stems slender, striated, long or short, simple or branched. Upper leaves alternate or opposite, long-petioled; lamina ¾–1¾ in. long, elliptic-oblong to oblong or lanceolate, obtuse, rounded at the base, coriaceous, 10–16-nerved with numerous cross-veins and minute areolation; stipules broad, subacute. Submerged leaves numerous, usually alternate but sometimes opposite, shortly petioled, 2–4 in. long, ¼–¾ in. broad, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate or linear, very thin and membranous, translucent, 5–12-nerved with rather distant cross-veins, margins often undulate or crisped, not denticulate. Peduncles variable in length, rather slender; spike dense, ½–¾ in. ​long. Perianth-segments rhombic-orbicular. Fruit small, about 1/10 in. long, broadly ovoid, slightly compressed, keeled on the back, beak short.—A. Bennett, l.c. xxv. (1887) 177; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 410. P. heterophyllus, Hook. f. Handh. N.Z. Fl. 279, 742 (not of Schreber). P. natans var. australis, Kirk ex A. Bennett in Journ. Bot. xxv. (1887) 177.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Abundant throughout in streams, ponds, and lakes. Sea-level to 3000 ft. Manihi. November–March.
The most abundant species, universally distributed throughout the colony. The numerous submerged leaves and smaller floating ones at once separate it from P. natans, to say nothing of other differences. According to Mr. Bennett, it is also found in Tasmania.
4. P. ochreatus, Raoul, Choix, 13, t. 7.—Stems slender, striate, branched, long or short according to the depth of the water. Leaves all submerged, alternate or the upper opposite, sessile, 1–4 in. long, ⅛–¼ in. broad, linear-ligulate, obtuse or emarginate at the tip, membranous, 3- or 5-nerved with or without iiner parallel veins between, transverse veins few; stipules free, at length conspicuously lacerate. Peduncles stout, erect, usually shorter than the leaves, 1–3 in. long; spike short, oblong, about ½ in. long. Fruit broadly obliquely ovoid, subcompressed, 1/10 in. long, back rounded, beak short, thick.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 236, and ii. 336; A. Bennett in Journ. Bot. xxv. (1887) 178. P. gramineus, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 279 (not of Linn.). P. obtusifolius, Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 172 (not of Mert. and Koch).
North and South Islands: Rivers and lakes from the North Cape to Otago, not uncommon. November–March.
This is a much larger and stouter plant than the northern P. obtusifolius, to which it was referred by Bentham. It appears to be plentiful in Australia, ranging from Queensland to Tasmania.
5. P. pectinatus, Linn. Sp. Plant. 127.—Stems long, filiform, much branched, often forming dense masses. Leaves all submerged, alternate, sheathing at the base, 2–4 in. long by 1/20–1/15 in. broad, very narrow-linear or almost filiform, upper channelled on both surfaces, lower flatter, 1–3-nerved with transverse veinlets; stipules adnate with the sheathing base of the leaf. Peduncles long, slender, filiform, not thickened upwards; spike 1½–2 in. long, of distant whorls of flowers. Fruit rather large for the size of the plane, about ⅛ in, long, turgid, obscurely keeled on the back, slightly convex in front, rugose when dry, beak very short.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 386; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 279; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 173; A. Bennett, Journ. Bot. xxv. (1887) 178.
North Island: Auckland—Waikato River and Lake Whangape, Kirk! T.F.C.; Lakes Tarawera and Rotomahana, Kirk! Hawke's Bay—Tangoia Lagoon, Colenso, A. Hamilton! South Island: Canterbury—Lake Forsyth, Kirk! Otago—Lake Waihola, and still waters of the Taieri Plain, Petrie! December–March.
A very widely distributed plant, found in fresh or brackish waters in most parts of the world.
3. RUPPIA, Linn.
Slender submerged much-branched herbs, usually growing in brackish water. Leaves alternate or opposite, filiform, with broad sheathing bases. Flowers minute, hermaphrodite, 2 or more on a spike, at first enclosed in the membranous leaf-sheath, but after flowering the filiform peduncle elongates greatly, and is either straight or spirally coiled. Perianth wanting. Stamens 2, opposite; filaments very short; anthers 2-celled, the cells distinct, opening outwards. Carpels 4; stigma sessile, peltate; ovule solitary, pendulous from the apex of the cell. Fruiting carpels stipitate, obliquely ovoid, obtuse or beaked. Seed uncinate; testa membranous; embryo with a large thick radicle and small incurved cotyledon.
A genus of either one variable species or of several closely allied ones, common in brackish waters in almost all temperate or subtropical countries.
1. R. maritima, Linn. Sp. Plant. 127.—Stems slender, filiform,, variable in length, 6–24 in., leafy throughout. Leaves 2–5 in. long, filiform, with broad membranous sheathing bases. Flowers 2–6 together, at first completely enclosed in the inflated leaf-sheath; but the spike gradually emerges, and is borne up to the surface of the water by the usually conspicuously spirally coiled peduncle. Ripe carpels 1/10–1/8 in. long, greenish, obliquely ovoid, beaked; each one on a slender stipes sometimes more than 1 in. long.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 236; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 279; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 174.
North and South Islands: Abundant throughout in brackish-water ponds and lagoons, not so common in fresh-water lakes and streams. December–April.
All the specimens I have seen have spirally coiled peduncles and rather broad sheaths; but in all probability the variety (or species) rostellata will also be found, which has straight or flexuous peduncles and narrow leaf-sheaths.
4. ZANNICHELLIA, Linn.
Slender submerged water-plants; stems filiform, branched. Leaves usually opposite, filiform, sheathing at the base; sheaths stipular. Flowers minute, axillary, monœcious, a single male and female enclosed in the membranous leaf-sheaths. Male flower: Perianth wanting. Stamen 1; filament short at first, elongating as the flower expands; anther 2–3-celled, linear, basifixed, ​cells dehiscing laterally, connective produced, apiculate. Female flower: Perianth short, cupular, hyaline. Carpels 2–6, sessile; styles long or short; stigma large, obliquely peltate, crenate; ovule solitary, pendulous, orthotropous. Ripe carpels usually 3 or 4, sessile or stalked, curved, oblong or oblong-reniform, slightly compressed, tubercled or crenate or smooth on the back, beaked by the projecting style. Seed pendulous; testa membranous; embryo cylindric, the cotyledonary end bent into a short coil.
An almost cosmopolitan genus of 4 or 5 closely allied species, probably all forms of one.
1. Z. palustris, Linn. Sp. Plant. 969.—Stems very slender, much branched, leafy throughout, often forming dense masses, 3–14 in. long. Leaves opposite or subwhorled, very slender, ½–3 in. long, filiform, flat. Flowers sessile or very shortly pedicelled. Fruiting carpels 3 or 4, about 1/12 in. long, stipitate or almost sessile, curved, smooth or very obscurely crenate on the back; styles from half to almost as long as the carpels.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 237; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 280; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 498.
North Island: Auckland—Abundant in the Waikato River, from Taupiri downwards, also in Lakes Waikare, Whangape, and Waihi, Kirk! T.F.C. Hawke's Bay—Tangoia Lagoon, Colenso! South Island: Otago—Waikouaiti Lagoon, Petrie! December–May.
The Waikato specimens have the carpels sessile or nearly so, and decidedly turgid; in those from Hawke's Bay and Otago they are distinctly stipitate, and with longer styles. Both forms have the back of the carpel smooth or nearly so.
5. LEPILÆNA, J. Drummond.
Very slender submerged vrater-plants; stems filiform, branched. Leaves alternate or the floral ones opposite, filiform, sheathing at the base; sheaths broad, stipular. Flowers minute, axillary, diœcious or rarely monœcious, solitary within the dilated sheathing bases of a pair of floral leaves. Male flowers shortly pedicelled. Perianth very minute, of 3 hyaline scales. Anthers 2 or 3, united by their backs and forming a solid column resembling a single anther; each anther 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers sessile or shortly pedicellate. Perianth of 3 hyaline segments longer or shorter than the carpels. Carpels 3, distinct, sessile or shortly stipitate, narrowed into a short or long style; stigma oblong or spathulate; ovule solitary, pendulous. Ripe carpels usually 3, oblong, coriaceous, indehiscent, tipped by the persistent style. Seed oblong; testa membranous; embryo with a thick obtuse radicle and tapering involute cotyledonary end.
A small genus of 4 species, 3 of which are Australian, one of them said to extend to New Zealand; the remaining one is endemic in New Zealand. In Engler's "Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien" the genus is merged with the Mediterranean Althenia.
| Leaf-sheaths narrow. Anthers 3, connate into a column. Stigma oblong-clavate | 1. L. Preissii. |
| Leaf-sheaths broad. Anthers 2 (or 1?). Stigma very large, fiat, deeply fimbriate | 2. L. bilocularis. |
1. L. Preissii, F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. viii. 217.—Stems 6–18 in. long, very slender, filiform, branched, often forming dense masses. Leaves filiform or almost capillary; sheathing bases very narrow. Flowers diœcious; males solitary within the leaf-sheaths, shortly pedicelled. Perianth minute, cupular. Anthers 3, sessile within the perianth, connate by their backs into a columnar mass, each one 2-celled, cells dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers solitary, shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 distinct segments, rather longer than the carpels. Carpels 3, narrowed into a rather long style; stigma oblong-clavate. Ripe carpels cylindrical, sessile or nearly so, about ½ in. long.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 180; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) App. xl., and xxviii. (1896) 499. Zannichellia Preissii, Lehm. in Plant. Preiss. ii. 3.
North Island: Auckland—Waikato River, near Churchill, Kirk.
I have seen no New Zealand specimens of this, but according to Mr. Kirk examples collected by him in the locality quoted above were submitted to the late Baron Mueller and by him identified with the Australian L. Preissii. It greatly resembles Zannichellia palustris, and in the absence of male flowers may have been mistaken for it.
2. L. bilocularis, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 500.—Stems filiform, much branched, 3–12 in. long. Leaves very narrow-linear or filiform, flat, 1-nerved, obtuse; base broad, expanded into a membranous sheath. Flowers very minute, solitary, dioecious, concealed in the leaf-sheaths. In the male plant the sheathing bases of the floral leaves are broad and much expanded, and conspicuously 2-lobed at the tip. Flowers very shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 most minute hyaline scales. Anthers apparently 2, cohering by their backs and resembling a single anther, each 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent, connective produced. Floral leaves subtending the female flowers with narrower sheaths flowers sessile or very shortly pedicelled. Perianth-segments 3 oblong, entire or 2-lobed, almost as long as the styles. Carpels 3 sessile; styles slender; stigmas very large and broad, deeply fiin briate or laciniate. Ripe carpels about 1/15 in. long, slightly oblique turgid, rounded on the back; style almost as long as the carpel.
South Island: Canterbury—Streams flowing into the Selwyn River; near the outlet of Lake Ellesmere, Kirk! Otago—Lake Waihola, Waikouaiti, Taieri Plain, Petrie!
A very curious little plant. Mr. Kirk describes the anthers as solitary; but in Mr. Petrie's Lake Waihola specimens, which are the only males that I have seen, I make the anthers to be 2, placed back to back, but closely resembling a single 4-celled anther. At the same time it is not easy to satisfy one's-self as to the structure of the anther from an examination of dried specimens.
6. ZOSTERA, Linn.
Marine submerged plants. Rhizomes slender, branched, creeping and rooting at the nodes, often matted. Stems short, slender, leafy, compressed. Leaves distichous, alternate, narrow-linear, grass-like, 1–5-nerved, sheathing at the base; sheaths stipuliform, with inflexed margins. Flowers monœcious, the males and females placed alternately upon one face of a narrow spadix enclosed within the dilated membranous base of a leaf. Perianth wanting. Male flowers: Anther solitary, sessile, oblong, cylindric, curved, 1-celled, dehiscence longitudinal; pollen confervoid. Female flowers: Carpel solitary, laterally attached above the middle, narrowed into a short subulate style; stigmas 2, capillary; ovule pendulous from the apex of the cell. Eipe carpel oblong, membranous, bursting irregularly. Seed pendulous; testa membranous, often striated; embryo large, deeply grooved, the linear incurved cotyledonary end sunk in the groove.
Three or four closely allied species are known, found in shallow water on the shores of most temperate regions.
| Leaves 3-9 in. × 1/16–1/10 truncate or notched at the tip. Spadix with transverse appendages, one folded over each carpel | 1. Z. nana. |
| Leaves 9–18 in. × 1/10–1/6 in., rounded at the tip | 2. Z. tasmanica. |
1. Z. nana, Roth, Enum. Pl. Phæn. Germ. i. 8.—Rhizomes slender, matted. Leaves 3–9 in. long, rarely more, 1/16–1/10 in. broad, narrow-linear, truncate or obscurely notched at the tip, with 3–5 faint parallel nerves on each side of the stout midrib and distant transverse veinlets, margins thickened. Floral sheaths or spathes ½–1 in. long, on peduncles of equal length, the blade of the leaf continued above the sheath, the sheath itself much wider than the blade. Spadix 6–12-flowered, its margins with transverse membranous appendages folded inwards, one over each carpel. Stigmas usually protruding through the slit of the spathe. Fruit about 1/10 in. long, oblong, obscurely striate.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 176; Kirk in Article 54#392|Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) 392. Z. Muelleri, Irmisch ex Aschers. in Linnæa, xxxv. (1867–68) 168.]]
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Muddy and sandy shores throughout, usually between high- and low-water marks. Widely distributed in temperate seas.
2. L. tasmanica, Martens ex Aschers. in Linnæa, xxxv. (1867–68) 168 (?).—Rhizomes slender, wide-creeping. Leaves 9–18 in. long, 1/10–1/6 in, broad, narrow-linear, rounded at the tip, not truncate, with 1–3 stout nerves on each side of the midrib and several finer ones between, cross-veinlets distant. Flowers and fruit not seen.—Z. marina, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 742 (not of Linn.).
North and South Islands: Not uncommon in sandy or muddy places along the coasts, often in water of considerable depth.
​The exact position of the New Zealand plant must remain doubtful until the fructification has been obtained, but it is probably the same as the Australian and Tasmanian Z. tasmanica, which seems hardly different from narrow-leaved forms of the northern Z. marina.