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  4. Carex banksiana

Carex banksiana

Ecclesfield Reserve, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 16/02/2008, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Glume (left) and utricle. Ecclesfield Reserve, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/02/2008, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Ecclesfield Reserve, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 16/02/2008, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/08/2012, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Carex banksii.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Castle Rock, Coromandel. February.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
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Common name

fine-leaved bastard grass

Synonyms

Uncinia banksii Boott;Uncinia riparia R.Br. var. banksii (Boott) C.B.Clarke; Uncinia capillaris Col.

Family

Cyperaceae

Authority

Carex banksiana K.A.Ford

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Sedges

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

UNCBAN

Chromosome number

2n = 88

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The threat classification status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.

Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (Te Paki to the southern Waikato and Bay of Plenty, thence mostly in west to about Wellington), South Island (North-West Nelson, Marlborough Sounds, Canterbury and Otago)

Habitat

Next to Carex uncinata Linn.f. one of the most common species of northern coastal and lowland forest and scrub.

Features

Densely tufted, bright green to blue-green plants. Culms 100-350 mm long, much < 0.5 mm diameter, glabrous, terete; basal bracts dull reddish brown. Leaves 3-6 per culm, = or > culm, 0.5-1.5 mm wide, very soft, harshly scabrid on margins and upper surface towards the long filiform tip. Spikes 30-70 × 1-2 mm, occasionally bracteate, female flowers c.5-10, all distant, internodes 1-10 mm. long, male glumes scarcely imbricating. Glumes much < utricles, deciduous, ovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, hyaline with a green midrib. Utricles 4.5-6 mm long, slightly < 1 mm diameter, plano-convex or terete, narrow-lanceolate or oblong, strongly nerved, rarely smooth, green to very pale brown, not spreading at maturity, distinctly contracted to a stipe 0.5-1.0 mm long, beak 1.0-1.5 mm long

Similar taxa

Carex hamlinii K.A.Ford although a much larger plant could be confused with C. banksiana. However, C. hamlinii usually grows in cooler habitats away from the coast or at higher altitudes than U. banksii, and both species have yet to be found growing sympatrically. From C. hamlinii, C. banksiana differs by its smaller stature, by the glumes which are hardly overlapping and by the more distant female flowers. C.subviridis K.A.Ford, another fine-leaved species may also be confused with has a superficial resemblance to C. banksiana. Both species have a similar gracile growth habit, and rather fine light-green leaves and lax inflorescences. However, Carex subviridis is a larger plant closer set flowers, and with scabrid rather than glabrous utricles.

Flowering

October - November

Fruiting

November - April (but old inflorescences present throughout the year)

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and by division of established plants. Does best in a free draining soil, in a semi-shaded site

Etymology

carex: Latin name for a species of sedge, now applied to the whole group.

banksiana: Named after Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS (24 February 1743 - 19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences.

Attribution

Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970). Fact sheet prepared by Peter J. de Lange 17 August 2006.

References and further reading

Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. II. Government Printer, Wellington.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Carex banksiana Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/carex-banksiana/ (Date website was queried)

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