Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Poales Small
Family
Cyperaceae Juss.
Genus
Carex L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Carex erebus K.A.Ford in Global Carex Group, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 179: 31 (2015)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Uncinia hookeri Boott in Hooker, Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 91, t. 51 (1844)
  • ≡ Uncinia riparia var. hookeri (Boott) Kük., Pflanzenr. (Engler) 38 , 63 (1909)
Etymology:
Named for the ship HMS Erebus on which Joseph Dalton Hooker sailed on the Voyage to the Antarctic 1839–1843, during which this species was first collected from the Auckland Islands.
 Description

Dense, stiff tufts from a slender rhizome c. 1mm. diam. Culms 4–10–(25) cm. × c. 0.5 mm., glab.; basal bracts dark brown. Lvs 5–9 per culm, much > flowering culms but us. only slightly < fruiting culms, 1.5–2 mm. wide, dark green, rigid, involute, scabrid on margins and upper surface towards tip. Spikes (1)–2–3.5 cm. × c. 3 mm., greenish brown, female fls c. 10–20, crowded towards top of spike with internodes 1–3 mm. long, more distant in lower third of spike with internodes up to 4 mm. long. Glumes ± = or slightly > utricles, deciduous, lanceolate, acute, membr., light or dark brown, us. with a prominent green midrib and two very dark brown lateral veins, margin pale brown. Utricles 4–5 mm. long, slightly < 1 mm. diam., trigonous or subtrigonous, oblong or lanceolate, light green, nerved, occ. only faintly so on the two abaxial surfaces, slightly contracted at the base to a stipe c. 1 mm. long, beak 1–1.5 mm. long; strongly spreading when ripe.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
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. [as Uncinia hookeri Boott] [Naturally uncommon]
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. [Naturally Uncommon]
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. [as Uncinia hookeri Boott] [Naturally Uncommon]
Global Carex Group 2015: Making Carex monophyletic (Cyperaceae, tribe Cariceae): a new broader circumscription. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 179: 1–42.
Hamlin, B.G. 1959: A Revision of the Genus Uncinia (Cyperaceae Caricoideae) in New Zealand. Dominion Museum Bulletin 19: 1–106. [as Uncinia hookeri Boott; Uncinia riparia var. pseudorupestris Kük. ex Cockayne]
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Kükenthal, G. 1909: Cyperaceae - Caricoideae. In: Engler, H.G.A. (ed.) Das Pflanzenreich. Vol. Heft 38.