Corybas cryptanthus Hatch
C. saprophyticus Hatch in T.R.S.N.Z. 79, 1952, 366, t. 71
non Schlechter in Fedde Repert. Spec. nov. Regn. veg. 19, 1923, 22.
Type locality: Wellsford, N. Auckland. Holotype: AK 26468A Herb. Hatch No. 569, 29/7/1950, E. D. Hatch.
Plant almost wholly beneath surface of lf-mould, lacking chlorophyll but flecked with red and brown; fl. just emergent. Erect stem carrying capsule to height of c. 15 cm; rhizome c. 1 mm. diam., to 10 cm. long, ± horizontal, laxly branched, apparently without roots. Lvs represented only by small pale scales at intervals of c. 1 cm. along rhizome, one at base of fl.-stem us. slightly larger. Floral bract > ovary. Per. translucent white to pale pink, ± streaked with red. Dorsal sepal about as long as labellum, narrow-lanceolate, acuminate; lateral sepals long, filiform, much exceeding labellum. Petals similar to lateral sepals but shorter. Labellum c. 15 mm. long, auriculate at base, the margins meeting behind the column and for about ½ total length, the distal portion expanded, ± deflexed but never abruptly, the free margin upturned and fringed with coarse, sts branched laciniae, the central part thickened and papillose.
DIST.: N. Reported from localities near Auckland, Taupo, Wanganui and Wellington, locally abundant. S. Victoria Range, near Reefton; Ruakaka Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound.
Endemic.
Forest or scrub.
FL. 7–8–(10).
The succulent, branching rhizome is unlike that of any other N.Z. orchid, and it was from this that the sp. was first recognized as new (Irwin, Bull. Wellington bot. Soc. No. 23, 1950, 23–24). At fl., tubers are represented only by minute globose swellings, often 2 close together, in the axils of scale-lvs. Illustrations supplementary to those published in the protologue are to be found in Bull. Wellington bot. Soc. No. 27, 1954, 23 (drawings by J. B. Irwin and first South Id record) and No. 29, 1957, 3 (photograph by A. P. Druce illustrating article by Tony Whitaker recording the sp. near Wellington and in Marlborough Sounds).
