Journal Number 100
August 2006
THE COLUMN
Anzybas Pale and Dark
By Eric Scanlen
RH Matthews' Anzybas rotundifolius "late pale" of August 1899, consistently flowers in August when the July flowering and commoner "early dark" has finished.
He sent specimens of both to TF Cheeseman at AK, (the Auckland Museum Herbarium) and Cheeseman was pleased to reclassify "it" incorrectly as Corysanthes Matthewsii, thinking that Colenso's C. rotundifolia Hook. f. applied to C. rivularis Hook. f. but that's another story.
Cheeseman was also too thorough in applying the don't-describe-albinos principle and so ignored the rare "late pale" - which is no albino - almost into oblivion.
RH & HB Matthews mentioned several times that they thought these were separate taxa, as you can read in Matthews and Son on Orchids [1] but they made no apparent impact on Cheeseman.
HB Matthews didn't help in his letter of 7 August 1912, by saying that the "late pale" flowered a month earlier despite him his sending specimens a month later in August! This was shortly after his father, RH Matthews had died so he can be excused for the muddle.
These two tiny orchids flowered a month apart in 1899 and 1912 and of course, still do today but due to its complete exclusion by Cheeseman in both his 1906 and 1925 Floras, "late pale" just never entered the literature until the late Noeleen Clements [(J36:9 Dec. 1990)) reported "albino" and normally coloured Corybas aff. unguiculatus, as they were then known, in kauri/taraire bush in ER 6 (Mangonui to Bream Tail) to keep the exact site secret.
Word has it that it was at Brattys Reserve, Ngunguru so a visit there in August now becomes
a must.
Noeleen implied that they were both flowering together on 30 July 1988. Her 1994 Field Guide [2] which was once the Column's orchid bible, thus made no mention of the supposed albino Corybas rotundifolius as it had then become.
Dr. Lucy Moore also directed Ian St George to some near Warkworth where he photographed "early dark" in the light shade at the edge of the bush and "late pale" in the darker depths but also flowering at the same time so there must be a brief period of overlap. Dr. Moore would by then have realised her error in the 1970 Flora, of lumping A. carsei and A. rotundifolius as the Aussie Corybas unguiculatus.
Both species are mentioned in the Flora in the fine print but, as with Cheeseman and Noeleen Clements, there is no reference at all to "late pale". See how effective that don't-describe-albinos principle can be in keeping pale species from us?
The Column, has been hunting Allan Ducker's Anzybas rotundifolius at Bream Tail Reserve for eleven years but always in July because that's when the "early dark" form was always found in flower elsewhere. Only "late pale" seems to grow at Bream Tail, so Allan and the Column were always too early, blissfully unaware that this was a late flowering taxon because of its absence from the literature. So those seen were either buds, on 7 July 1995 [(J57:18; 76:40)) or a mutated open one which thus went unpublished, on 16 July 2005.
Gary Penniall came across some magnificent open "late pales" at Te Paki's Shenstone Block on 27 August 2002. His cropped pic of it got into J87:25 Fig 3, and still it didn't register with the proof reading Column that it flowered late. Only whilst he was compiling Matthews & Son on Orchids did the light finally dawn.
Photo below left is Gary's classy photo from that field trip and Photo right, for comparison, is the Column's shot of an early dark of 8 July 1995, from Ngunguru where this form flowers well among the kauri. No one in that memorable field party of seven saw any "late pales" but 8 July was of course far too early in the season to expect them.
A morphological difference (that the taxonomists crave) may be the leaf structure; contoured on "early dark" and flat on "late pale". These leaves would both look flat in dried specimens but the difference shows in most photos although one of the Column's slides of a "late pale" bud at Bream Tail [(J76:40)) is definitely on a contoured leaf. Possibly the exception to prove the rule?
Back on 27 August 2002 at Te Paki, Gary also photographed an "early dark" mutant with a short and twisted dorsal sepal. But that only proves that mutants often flower out of season, doesn't it?
Anyone that doubts that "late pale" is a different taxon from "early dark" because of similar looking flowers, please consider the how slender is the possibility of their cross pollinating when peak flowering is a month apart and
A. rotundifolius is said to be self pollinating.
Doesn't that mean that they are plants following different evolutionary paths?
How's that for a concise definition of "different species"?
The "late pales" are uncommon but widespread from Te Paki, Kaitaia, Ngunguru, Bream Tail Reserve and Warkworth. By all accounts, both taxa have been found together at all those sites except Bream Tail Reserve where only "late pale" has been reported.
 
Anzybas Pale Anzybas Dark
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Allan Ducker for introducing the Column to Bream Tail Reserve plants, to Gary Penniall for submitting his slides for publication and, to Don Pittham for information about Brattys reserve and Ian St George for his contribution. RH & HB Matthews deserve especial accreditation for first bringing these taxa several times to the notice of the top New Zealand botanist of their day, despite the rebuffs they obviously received for daring to propose a pale form as distinct.
References
1. Scanlen, E.A. Matthews and Son on Orchids NZ Native Orchid Group's Historical Series 2006; No. 14.
2. Hollard, V. & Clements, N. A beginner's field guide to the native orchids of New Zealand, 1994.
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