Key to indigenous and naturalised Carex in New Zealand

Kerry Ford

The indigenous species of Carex in New Zealand have five of six subgenera and at least 17 independent lineages, making it far more diverse than any other flowering plant genus. This diversity derives from repeated long-distance dispersal from different ancestral areas, including, the Neotropic, Nearctic, and the Eastern and even Western Palearctic. Although Carex in New Zealand is diverse and has wide phylogenetic representation, the species richness of lineages is remarkably unequal. Notably most of the lineages are species-poor, for example 9 of the 17 have a single species, while two make up 70% of species – Carex sections Spirostachyae and Uncinia.

This Lucid 3 key is illustrated with more than 1200 images and is connected by hyperlinks at the species level to Flora of New Zealand Volumes 2 (Moore & Edgar 1970) and 3 (Healy & Edgar 1980) and NZ Biota online.

Biostatus statistics

Indigenous (Endemic) 100
Indigenous (Non-endemic) 17
Naturalised 30
Total number of species 147

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Citation

Ford KA 2025. Key to indigenous and naturalised Carex in New Zealand.
Accessed at https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/tools-and-resources/identification/key-to-indigenous-and-naturalised-carex-in-new-zealand
Date of access: -- current date --