Prasophyllum pumilum was originally discovered by Mr. J. Edgerley, a gentleman of
considerable scientific attainments, who collected plants in the northern portion of New Zealand
in the years 1841-42, and who forwarded his specimens to Sir W. J. Hooker at Kew.

I do not know the exact station in which Mr. Edgerley obtained the species, but as his travels were confined to the district between the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Islands it must have been somewhere within those limits.

A little later it was gathered by Mr. Colenso, probably at the Bay of Islands; and, according to the "Handbook," it was collected in the vicinity of Auckland by Dr. Sinclair.

Its southern limit, so far as I am aware, is on the Leptospermum-clad hills between Rangiriri and the Whangamarino River, where I observed it many years ago. Both Mr. Kirk and myself have gathered it in several stations near Auckland, although (as in all its localities) in small quantity.

I have also collected it at Coromandel, in several stations between Helensville and Port Albert, at Whangarei, at the Bay of Islands, and at Mongonui. Mr. R. H. Matthews and Mr. Carse have both found it to be "not uncommon" near Kaitaia, and Mr. Kirk has recorded it from the tract of country between Parengarenga and the North Cape.

It is purely a heath-plant, and I have never seen it except on the comparatively bare clay hills which are so frequent in the North Auckland Peninsula, and which, from the quantity of kauri resin that has been dug from them, are locally known as "gum-lands." The vegetation on these hills is mainly composed of stunted Leptospermum scoparium, mixed with varying proportions of Pomaderris phylicæfolia and P. elliptica (and less commonly P. Edgerleyi), Leucopogon fasciculatus, Dracophyllum Urvilleanum, and other shrubs, together with some sedges, Pteris aquilina, and several small herbaceous plants. It is in open places of perhaps a yard or so in extent, often covered with Campylopus and other mosses, that the Prasophyllum is usually found.

Prasophyllum pumilum belongs to an altogether different section of the genus to that which includes P. Colensoi, figured in the previous plate, and which bears the name of Genoplesium.

In it the lip is articulated on to a flat ribband-like projection from the base of the column, and is
more or less mobile. Its nearest ally, according to Hooker, is the Tasmanian P. despectans, with
which I am not acquainted; but it is also comparatively close to the New Zealand plant which I
have for the present referred to the Australian P. rufum, but which differs from P. pumilum in
the horizontal (not deflexed) flowers, in the narrower lip and lateral sepals, the latter being
tipped by a minute gland, and in the narrower lateral lobes of the column.  

Pterostylis trullifolia is another of the discoveries made by Mr. T. Edgerley, having been
collected by him at the Bay of Islands in 1841. About the same time, or very shortly afterwards,
it was gathered by Mr. Colenso in the same district.

Since then it has been observed by every botanist who has examined the vegetation of the
northern portion of the North Island, for, so far as the district to the north of the Bay of Plenty
and Kawhia is concerned, it is one of the most abundant of the terrestrial orchids.

In the southern portion of the North Island it is decidedly rare and local, although it extends to
the neighbourhood of Wellington. In the South Island the only locality yet recorded is Mount Peter,
in northern Marlborough, where it was detected some years ago by Mr. J. H. Macmahon.

P. trullifolia has a somewhat wider range of habitats than Prasophyllum pumilum. Although often found on Leptospermum-clad hills, it requires more shade than the Prasophyllum, and delights in sheltered nooks in tall Leptospermum, where there is a plentiful supply of humus and not too much moisture. It is also common in mossy places in tolerably dry and open forest, but is seldom seen where the forest is thick and dense. Its altitudinal range is from sea-level to 2,000 ft. or a little more.

Two well-marked varieties are commonly seen. The first, which must be regarded as the type, has
a rather large flower often an inch in length, and the petiolate radical leaves are usually present in
flowering specimens, and frequently very numerous in barren ones, forming a conspicuous rosette.

The other variety, which may be distinguished as var. gracilis, is taller and more slender, with a smaller flower varying from ½ in. to 2/3 in. in length; the cauline leaves are narrower, the radical leaves are seldom present in flowering specimens, and in barren plants are fewer in number and smaller. Both varieties are figured in the accompanying plate.

The genus Pterostylis has a very similar geographical distribution to that of Thelymitra and
Prasophyllum. It contains approximately about fifty species, of which thirty-six or thirty-seven
are Australian. Eleven species are found in New Zealand, two of them being the same as Australian forms; three are known from New Caledonia, one of them being probably identical with an Australian species; and a single species (P. papuana, Rolfe) is found in New Guinea.