Flora of New Zealand Series

P. pauciflorum Col. in T.N.Z.I.  18,  1886,  273.

Original localities: "Northern and Middle Islands, common. East Coast and interior, Colenso. Canterbury, Lyall". Type: K(?).

Plant at fl. 10–25 cm. tall. Tuber short-ovoid, adjacent to or occ. to c. 1 cm. away from tuber of previous year. Stem erect, ± fleshy. Lf often overtopping raceme; lamina terete, acute. Raceme of c. 5–20 evenly spaced fls, all ± fleshy. Per. reddish- or yellowish-green, two colour forms sts occurring together. Dorsal sepal c. 5 mm. long, ovate, concave, sts recurved; laterals slightly longer, narrower, weakly connate in bud and us. remaining so at least near base, fleshy and channelled, tip often minutely cucullate and shortly apiculate, so appearing bidentate. Petals a little shorter, wider, more delicate. Labellum of similar length, narrow at base and almost sessile, occ. shortly clawed, ovate, recurved but not abruptly so; margin entire, smooth to undulate; callus extending as an irregularly thickened median band almost to the narrowly subacute tip. Lateral processes of column bilobed, anterior lobe membr. and slightly shorter than anther; posterior lobe much smaller and ± callus-like. Anther sessile, just overtopped by rostellum. Stigma barely its own height above column-base.

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

Grassland.

FL. 11–2.

P. pauciflorum. Original locality: "Hills, country west of Napier; 1883, W.C.". Based on only one specimen and not found in Herb. Colenso at WELT.

Pollination is described by Thomson, T.N.Z.I. 11, 1879, 425.

P. rogersii Rupp in Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 53, 1928, 340 is recorded from Kaitaia by Rupp (Orchids N.S.W. 1943, 28) and by Hatch (T.R.S.N.Z. 76, 1947, 290). The type locality is Barrington Tops, N.S.W. and the sp. seems to be known elsewhere only from 2 widely separated places in Victoria and 2 in Tasmania (Willis Handbk Pl. Vict. 1962, 374). The principal difference from P. colensoi seems to lie in the shortness of the callus, said by Rupp to extend just beyond the curve. In specimens from near Kaitaia (Carse, Herb. Carse 559/1, R. H. Matthews, Herb. Carse 559/2, also AK 108902, H. B. Matthews) and from near Whangarei (A. Thomson, Herb. Carse 559/3) the labellum matches that of P. colensoi although the determinations are "P. patentifolium", the MS name by which (according to Hatch loc. cit.) Carse and H. B. Matthews referred to the plants determined by Rupp as P. rogersii. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 347) regarded P. colensoi as rare and local to the north of Lake Taupo and there appear to be few northern collections for comparative study. Hatch (Auckland's Orchids, Auck. bot. Soc. 1959, 13) records P. colensoi from hills and creek banks in the Albany-Silverdale area. Fresh plants from further north (Towai, E. D. Moore, 29/10/1968) closely resemble P. colensoi from Westland.