Vegetative Anatomy of Uncinia (Cyperaceae)

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Abstract
The vegetative anatomy of 18 (19) Uncinia spp. (Cyperaceae-Cariceae) including representatives of most taxonomic subdivisions was studied to determine the range of variation in certain anatomical and morphological characters of the vegetative organs within the genus. The two South American species U. erinacea and U. kingii differ from all others, the former in having a closed cylinder of sclerenchyma in the culm, and the latter a grooved culm. The three tall South American spp., U. brevicaulis, U. hamata, and U. phleoides var. trichocarpa, are characterized by adaxial intercostal fibre strands in the leaves, and in this respect show affinities with tall New Zealand species, U. sinclairii and U. uncinata. The last species does not have the intercostal strands. The much smaller U. tenuis from S. America resembles, in the size and shape of transverse sections of leaf and culm, a group of species from New Zealand comprising U. angustifolia, U. egmontiana, and U. rupestris. To these could be added U. banksii, U. hookeri, and perhaps also U. tenella, although the last two spp. exhibit some distinctive characters in the transverse section of the leaf and also in the leaf epidermis in surface view. No exact counterpart to the Australian and New Zealand spp. U. divaricata, U. riparia, U. rubra and U. scabra was found amongst the S. American material. This group of spp. is distinctive, for example, because of the triangular or irregularly triangular shape of transverse sections of the culm and the large amount of sclerenchyma in transverse sections of the leaf. The range of structural variation appears to be particularly wide in the S. American spp., which represent two extreme types in the shape of the leaf in transverse section. The other tall and small species have their respective counterparts in each area, although they are more profusely represented in New Zealand than in America, and therefore show a correspondingly greater range of structure.

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