Flora of New Zealand Series

Sarcochilus adversus Hook. f. Fl. N.Z.  1,  1853,  241.

S. breviscapa Col. in T.N.Z.I.  14,  1882,  332.

Original localities: "Opuragi [Mercury Bay] Banks and Solander. Bay of Islands and Wairarapa, Edgerley, Colenso." Type: K(?).

Plant a lfy tuft c. 4–12–(15) cm. diam., the roots us. much the longest parts. Stem to c. 5 cm. long,often much shorter, erect, lower part covered with imbricating old lf-bases. Green lvs at any one time c. 4–6–(9); lamina to c. 6 × 1.5 cm., elliptic-oblong, tip acute, slightly twisted, minutely 2-toothed when young, base meeting sheath along clearly defined abscission line. Racemes arising among or below green lvs, sts both a higher and a lower one produced in a single season; old raceme-axes persisting on lower part of stem for several years. Fls opp. to irregularly alternate, pedicel < to > small membr. bract. Per. greenish white flecked with red. Sepals and petals subequal, c. 3.5 × 1.5 mm. Labellum almost as long and broader, very fleshy, ± erect, smoothly convex externally, deeply channelled; mid-lobe distinct only as small cucullate tip; lateral lobes forming sides of clog-shaped structure and each with an internally projecting, partly transverse ridge. Column much shorter, broadly cylindric, its foot barely recognisable to quite well defined. Capsules c. 15 × 3.5 mm., large for size of raceme.

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

On well-lit trunks and branches of trees.

FL. 10–12.

Gudex (T.R.S.N.Z. 82, 1954, 611–612) discusses the occurrence of Sarcochilus adversus in the Waikato basin; of the 31 "host" species he records, 4 are exotic trees.

Sarcochilus breviscapa. Originally from "'Seventy Mile Bush' (1878–80), and at Glenross (1881, D. P. Balfour), Hawke's Bay". Type: WELT 24268. Said to possess "close affinity with S. adversus, Hook. fil., but very distinct". The differences are not obvious from the description or from the type.

Holttum (Kew Bull. 14, 1960, 263–276) discusses various genera related to Sarcochilus but does not mention either Drymoanthus or New Zealand plants. He accords "greater significance to the following kinds of character: number and form of pollinia, form of stipes and disc; shape and structure of the lip, especially the presence and position of calli or septa, and the character of a hinged lip as distinct from one immovably joined to the column (and thus not sharply distinct from the column-foot)". He restricts the name Sarcochilus to near allies of the original species (S. falcatus), apparently confined to Australia, and differing from the N.Z. species in having a long column-foot, the labellum distinctly jointed to it and saccate, the sac almost completely filled by a median callus.

Nicholls described the genus Drymoanthus to accommodate his new sp. D. minutus, based on a "solitary cultivated plant" from Queensland. Of the genus he states: "Allied to Sarcochilus, R. Br., but separated by a number of important features; among these are the following—an entire labellum, which is sessile at the immediate base of column; absence of any callosities or glands on the labellum disk." His figures G–J nevertheless all show slight notches delimiting a small central lobe.

Dockrill (loc. cit. 1967, 14) discusses Sarcochilus adversus Hook. f. The best character differentiating it from D. minutus seems to be the presence of large internal thickenings on the inner sides of the labellum. In the N.Z. sp. the labellum is neither strictly entire nor always sessile at the immediate base of the column. When a short column-foot is distinguishable the lateral sepals are adnate to it.