Flora of New Zealand Series

P. montana var. rubricaulis (Cheesem.) Hatch in T.R.S.N.Z. 77, 1949, 240, Pl. 23.

Original localities: Not listed but a herbarium note by H. B. Matthews dated Aug. 1913 states that this is the common type up north "I never saw the slender, many-leaved form common about Auckland in the Far North".

Lvs us. spreading widely from stem which is sts but not invariably red. Tip of dorsal sepal us. arched upwards. Labellum ± open-W-shaped in T.S., near the apex bent forward and ± asymmetrically twisted, us. to right, its midrib prominent and almost excurrent in the obtuse tip between deflexed, ± pinched-in margins.

DIST.: N., S.

Lowlands to uplands, lightly shaded to open places.

FL. 7-10.

Cheeseman, in publishing the varietal epithet suggested by Matthews, indicated no type specimen and provided only a brief diagnosis "Very close to the type, but stems red, leaves usually 3 only, seldom 4. Flowers larger and broader, sometimes 1¼ in. long. Lateral sepals considerably longer."

Hatch, without selecting a lectotype, gave a more detailed description, illustrated by figures presumably "drawn up from living material examined by the writer" (T.R.S.N.Z. 77, 1949, 234). He restricted the distribution to a limited area to the north and south of Auckland City and, on the basis of spreading lvs and constricted labellum tip, transferred the var. from graminea to montana although the sepal characters are at variance with his diagnosis of the latter sp. and the stigma is not of the distinctive montana form.

Spreading lvs provide only an imprecise character, and one now known to be quite variable in P. montana. The "pinched", ± twisted labellum tip occurs in otherwise ± graminea -like plants in various parts of both North and South Islands, us. consistently within a colony, but sts variously developed in adjacent plants; differences, though striking in fresh young fls, depend on a very small morphological difference, and in old fls of  var. graminea the tip of the labellum often twists to resemble that of  var. rubricaulis. Specimens from Puysegur Point in Fiordland can with difficulty be distinguished from those from Waitakere Ranges called var. rubricaulis, but from the Volcanic Plateau come somewhat similar specimens in which flowers and whole plants seem to be larger in average size.