Anne Fraser emailed (3 December 2005), "Having sampled the Waihaha track with the contingent from Taranaki prior to the Waikaremoana get together I decided a repeat trip was warranted on the way home. The delights of the shrub land would appeal to my friend Maureen's botanical expertise, and as it turned out a good number of orchid species were revealed.

We had made a short visit to Iwitahi the previous day and were rewarded with two large areas of Chiloglottis valida both with a number of flowers. The work that has been done in the Reserve is a credit to the organizers.

"Having stayed in Taupo overnight we were on the spot in good time at Waihaha. The weather was pleasant, with a light wind and although rain showers still blotted out the eastern ranges it became fine and warm as the day progressed.

Pterostylis were plentiful along the track side especially P. patens sometimes in groups with numbers of flowers. P. banksii and P. cardiostigma appeared higher up the track, both robust and in full flower.

A bonus was three plants of P. humilis, one of which had flowered. Bruce Irwin assured me it would most likely be this species. A group with smaller flowers and short paler erect laterals but without a twisted labellum was attributed to P. aff montana agg. Also seen was a very slender leaved plant under tall vegetation which was obviously none of the species already noted, and which we hesitated to name - P.irwinii or P. graminea?

"Several Thelymitra were encountered, most with flowers near opening. T .longifolia was common and some with the broad leaf looked more like T. aff. longifolia but flowering would be later so perfume could not be detected. T. nervosa and several lovely T. aff. ixioides well up the ridge track had purple flowers with black spots and lavender cilia.

Near the beginning of the shrub land a single specimen of Prasophyllum, probably P. colensoi was recorded and a good number of Orthoceras will flower later. The Calochilus sp. pointed out by the Taranaki group was still no where near opening.

A flowering colony of Corybas oblongus also vetted by them had strong red fringes at the flower opening and red veined leaves. A colony Maureen and I found higher up was covered with flowers and had green 'eyelashes' without red veining in the leaves. Several Caladenia species were noted, two eyecatching pink flowers with two neat rows of matching calli and unornamented white labellum tip. Other plants were attributed to C. chlorostyla.

"I had remarked during the walk that we should see Drymoanthus in the area and the highlight of our day was exactly that, spotted by Maureen as we took a brief break. This find was not D. adversus however but the small yellowish, narrow spotted leaved species which I have found sparsely on the farm here and which I hesitate to name as I am not familiar with D. flavus. This plant was on Kamahi (Weinmannia). I have only found it on Knightia, and only when one is blown down.

The discovery of lovely soft pink flowers on the rare Pittosporum turneri on the roadside on the way home satisfied the botanist in Maureen. A good finale to a much more than ordinary week end."

Surprises for Ian Reid from a restiad swamp at Opuatia early in December 1994: Eric Scanlen wrote,

"the colour shots show a Thelymitra cyanea alba, still with yellow postanther lobes and yellow spiral column arms but totally lacking in the normal blue; and a Thelymitra formosa not with yellow or even orange cilia but bright red. Another shot showed the hypochromic Prasophyllum hectori normal from this area [J98:9] in the boggy raised centre of the swamp.

It had a root system 2-3m long which could explain how the normally coloured specimens at Pureora [J54:2] establish out in flowing water in a reed choked stream. Is this the yellow taxon reported by Peter de Lange from the Chatham Islands [J83:8]?"

Alva Gosling wrote (29 March), that five years ago he bought a cubic metre of pine bark for his Henderson garden, and heaped the surplus beneath a medium sized conifer for future use.

Two months later what appeared to be a Thelymitra leaf blade appeared near the bottom of the heap, then a flower stem that withered before the buds opened. He carefully transferred the plant and bark pieces to a pot, and ascertained from the odour that the bark was Pinus nigra. Over the next four years the plant produced leaves but the flower stems again died back before the buds opened.

In December 05 several leaves were well formed, then three flower stems (the longest 45cm), with good buds by midjanuary 06, the flowers opening at long last in early February, "after years of testing my patience". He watched the flowers "almost hourly" awaiting the optimum time for photographs, and eventually obtained the slides from which the scans below were taken. "I would be most grateful for any help you can provide on identification," Alva wrote, "and am quite pleased I may have saved ONE native orchid.

" What is it? Well, I am always chary of making identifications solely from photographs, but the column and general structure look remarkably like that of the rather rare Thelymitra malvina to me (though it could be another taxon in the Thelymitra pauciflora complex); perhaps its initial failures to flower are because this is its southernmost record, and the Henderson climate may be a bit nippy for it - Ed.

Alva did some detective work: his bark was supplied by McClures ITM Building supplies, who obtain their timber from near Dargaville, but also in the past from the Kaitaia-Awanui region. They come down from the north for debarking and treatment, so the conditions are not favourable for orchid seeds or seedlings.

A few years back logs were brought by road from near Kaitaia to Moerewa or Kawakawa, then railed to Auckland. "Were there T. malvina seeds on those logs? The possibilities seem endless….

Have T. malvina seeds blown into Auckland from across the Tasman and touched down in McClures yard - on their bark piles? Have they survived from the north in bark on logs? Have seeds arrived in Auckland on severe northerly winds? Have seeds arrived in Auckland on the clothing of timber workers, particularly truck drivers - or on their trucks? Will we ever have confirmation?"

Graham Randle wrote, "I have purchased a scanner to copy my many slides and I thought you may be interested in some of them as they are copied.

This plant (Photo below left) was found (in the 1960s) behind Upper Hutt not far up the hill from Wallaceville research station in an open area that was once there. I was down there last weekend (not on the hill); it is now overgrown compared to what it was like when I lived there in the 60s but I noticed that there has been a fire on the hill, so it may be a good area once things start growing to look for this orchid again."

I know of only one plant of Pterostylis (Plumatochilos) tasmanica near Wellington nowadays - Ed.

Graham sent another scan of a 1960s slide of an unidentified orchid from Mt Holdsworth (Tararuas). It appears to be Pterostylis areolata [see J99 p23, Fig.5 & p16] - Ed.

Graham continued, "The Wellington area was a great place for orchids when I lived there. I was a member of the Hutt Valley tramping Club and was out most weekends in the hills. We had a small group of people in the Club who were interested in photographing plants. I had always been interested in orchids since my mother showed me one (she was shown them by her family in the same black beech bush area where Janet Frame's book Lagoon stems from - she was my mother's cousin).

When I was a small boy about eight on the Domain Track in Picton where we lived, there was a
P. banksii, and even today, fifty-five years since I first saw them, when I visit Picton to see family I visit the track, and lo and behold, growing in about the same place are these plants, as well as other species that I found in later years.

So if the conditions are fine one should be able to return to these places and hopefully find them once again."

The Cheeseman Symposium 2006, Auckland 20-22 November, will celebrate the centenary of the first full flora treatment to be published by a resident New Zealand botanist, Thomas F. Cheeseman's Manual of the New Zealand Flora (1906).

The conference is being organised by the NZ Plant Conservation Network, with the NZ Botanical Society, Auckland Museum, Auckland Botanical Society, Landcare Research and the University of Auckland. The registration form: http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/Documents/Registration-06.pdf.

More details on the Network website (www.nzpcn.org.nz) under Conservation info/Events/Conferences or at the following link: http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/news_events/conference.asp.

Conference session headings include: Early botanists, New Zealand and Pacific Floras, Biodiversity informatics, Pollination and reproductive biology, Science, conservation and conservation management.

There will also be plant conservation workshops organised by the Network.
A call for papers is included in the registration form referred to above.

The Manawatu Standard of 04 May 2006 reported that "a horticultural scientist's passion for rhododendrons germinated into a $5000 fine after she smuggled prohibited seeds into New Zealand".

A parcel from Britain addressed to the scientist was intercepted at Auckland International Airport.
It contained 26 packets of seeds and an order form listing 52 rhododendron species, six of which are illegal to import into New Zealand.

She had written on the order form: "Please post my seeds in a plain, unmarked envelope with no indication of contents to ensure smooth arrival in New Zealand."

Another parcel of seeds was also intercepted. The Crown prosecutor said the scientist knew her actions were "illegal and dangerous". Her counsel said his client had no previous convictions, made no financial gain from importing the seeds and had cooperated with authorities.

Judge Gregory Ross said her offending was premeditated and "somewhat clandestine".
He fined her $2500 for each of the two counts.

Orchid enthusiasts tempted to import or export orchid seed should think twice.
This arrived from Argentina by email recently:

"Hello. Very cordial greetings. I congratulate them for their beautiful one it paginates in Internet and for their excellent work with the orchids. I love the orchids. I love to sow seeds of orchids.
I built a small and humble laboratory in my house. I sowed some species. It is very difficult for
my to get seeds of orchids. Is it possible that you send me some seeds of orchids?????
From already thank you. Good luck for you. Good floraciones. Good business. I wait their
answer. Until soon."

Don't do it - Ed.

Anne Fraser wrote, "I was interested to see the reference to pigs seeking orchid tubers in the latest
Journal. My grandson who is a keen hunter, was following an old bush road a while ago and was
surprised to see that pigs had poked their noses into the ground along the sides of the road.
There wasn't major pig rooting, just neatly poked holes for some distance.

On seeing withered orchid stems lying there he lifted some and found no tubers at the base, and
concluded that the pigs were actively seeking the orchid tubers. I remember seeing orchid species
there, Thelymitra cyanea (it is quite swampy) and another species quite robust but not in flower so
I am not certain of its identity. Thelymitra longifolia and Pterostylis species were in the drier areas.
I hope the pigs don't make too much of a habit of doing this, it could decimate the populations".

Anne also sent her watercolours of Pterostylis banksii, P. foliata, and Thelymitra spp. painted in the 1960s, and her pen and wash portrait of Drymoanthus adversus - Ed.  View Here

Ferdinand Lukas Bauer, born 1760 in Feldsberg, Lower Austria; died 1826 in Vienna, was a member of the British Matthew Flinders Expedition to Australia (1801-1805).

Bauer's numerous watercolours recorded plants and animals, many of which had already died out by the end of the 19th century.

The emperor Franz I of Austria acquired Bauer's collections and drawings for the Combined Imperial Natural History Collections. Some of his 2000 pencil drawings are now in the Museum of Natural History Vienna.

The Czech-born Vienna-based botanist/priest Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher 1804-1849 included engravings by the Viennese A. Gebhardt (fl. 1840-1860) of Ferdinand Bauer paintings in his Iconographia Generum Plantarum (1838).

This issue we begin a series of Gebhardt engravings of Bauer drawings from Endlicher - see "Close Relations", p.24.