Flora of New Zealand Series

Nematoceras oblonga Hook. f. Fl. N.Z.  1,  1853,  250, t. 57B.

Corysanthes oblonga (Hook. f.) Hook. f. Handbk. N.Z.  Fl.  1864,  266.

Original localities: "Northern Island, Cunningham, Edgerley, etc. Mountains of the interior, Colenso. Auckland, Sinclair." Type: K(?).

Plant at fl. c. 2–3 cm. tall. Stem erect. Green lf c. 1–4 cm. long, sessile, ovate-oblong, apiculate, rounded or cordate at base, membr., ± veined with red. Floral bract c. = ovary, foliaceous. Dorsal sepal little longer than labellum, spathulate, tip broad, obtuse to apiculate; lateral sepals long, filiform, greatly exceeding labellum. Petals similar to lateral sepals but somewhat shorter. Labellum c. 5–10 mm. long, horizontal or sts tilted upwards, auriculate at base, curved to form a cylinder with a wide circular mouth fringed with coarse teeth; short retrorse hair-like calli ∞ near mid-line on inner surface.

DIST.: N., S., St., Ch., A., C.

Endemic.

Dry sunlit banks to damp shady places.

FL. 10–2.

Nematoceras rotundifolia Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 251. Corysanthes rotundifolia (Hook. f.) Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 266. Corybas rotundifolius (Hook. f.) Reichb. f. Beitr. syst. Pflk. 1871, 67. Hooker's diagnosis was: "caule elongato, folio rotundato cordato apiculato, scapo ex axilla folii orto brevi, bractea ovario aequilonga". Type locality: "Clay banks, Manawatu, Colenso". Type: K(?). Hooker had only buds said to "resemble N. oblonga in size and form of the pieces of the perianth". In the Handbook Hooker records this from "Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Islands, J.D.H." as well as from Northern and Middle Islands, and says: "Perhaps a variety of C. oblonga". Cheeseman interpreted the name differently but Hatch (T.R.S.N.Z. 75, 1945, 367) placed it in synonymy under C. oblongus.

The tuber of the current season, as in C. aconitiflorus, often appears to be lateral, being pushed aside by a descending root just above it.