Flora of New Zealand Series

P. puberula Hook. f. Fl. N.Z.  1,  1853,  249.

Type locality: Tasmania. Recorded also from other Australian States except Queensland.

Plant slender, to c. 15 cm. tall. Stem minutely rough, lower internodes us. puberulous with short stiff projecting hairs. Rosette lvs ∞, lamina c. 7 × 5 mm., ovate, acute, petiole little shorter, narrowly winged; cauline lvs smaller, sheathing. Fl. solitary, us. remote from highest bract. Dorsal sepal c 10–15 mm. tall, erect for about ⅔ of its length, then almost horizontal, apex obtuse to shortly acute; lateral sepals very long-connate, diverging at a very wide angle and so broadly U-shaped in front view with an inturned median tooth, sharply contracted into slender, ± erect caudae standing well above galea. Petals equal to or longer than dorsal sepal, subacute. Labellum oblong. Column longer than labellum; stigma long-oval, prominent.

DIST.: N., S. Known only from scattered localities in the Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and Marlborough districts.

Clay hills.

FL. 9–11.

P. puberula Hook. f. Original record: "Northern Island, Sinclair". Type: K(?). Equated to P. nana by Rupp (Vict. Nat., Melb. 49, 1932, 152).