The Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington has a microfilm of RH Matthews's diaries 1896-1912.

There are cryptic items on orchid discoveries scattered through the pages, but the detail covered in his letters to Cheeseman is absent from the diaries.

Every December he ended the year with his financial accounts, and every January he began the year with a "memorandum", a summary by date of things to look out for this year. The memoranda contain a lot of orchid entries, many not covered in the previous year's diary, suggesting he must also have kept a botanical notebook, now lost.

The memorandum for January 1904 has:

• July. 2 Ernie discovered Pteros squamata (not in flower).
• Sep. 4 (Ernie's orchid came out in flower.
• Sep. 5 (picked Ernie's orchid.
• Sep. 13 Pamaddius elliptica. Beautifully out. 40yds before peg 312 on new road to Herekino, near a young  tree & Ernie's new orchid.
• Sep. 21 Second of Ernie's new orchids.
• Sep. 24 Another of Ernie's orchids.

Further down there is a drawing labeled "Ernie's orchid Sep.5 04".

 

This is Matthews's account of Pterostylis (Plumatichilos) tasmanica.
There are tantalizing references to unidentified orchids…

1897 memorandum: Sep.17 tulip orchid sent to Cheeseman. No 1897 letters survive in the Matthews correspondence, but is Anzybas rotundifolius the "tulip orchid"?).

1898 Sep 4. looked for Bearded Griffin (Calochilus paludosus) but couldn't find any.
Too early I believe.

Sep.6 Blen found a new orchid below the quarry, something like Corysanthes triloba.

Nov.14 Prasophyllum medium.

16 Dec Walked to Waiorepa and picked a few fairly good specimens of Caleana minor and then down to the little bush below and got specimens of Gastrodia, rather late for them.

1900 Aug.8 Dug up a fine lot of Chiloglottis formicifera to transplant near home.

1902 Aug 23 Picked Chiloglottis formicitis (sic).

Oct.29 Corysanthes rotundifolia Kaiharehare creek.

Nov.24 Pteros micromega too late, mostly in fruit.

Dec.9 Lake swamp orchid found by Ernie.

1903 Aug.16 Corysanthes Matthewsii still out.

Sep.14 Caladenia minor small form….

1910 Oct 10 Ernie found another new orchid slope hillside overlooking Kingsford's valley.

Oct 11 sent to Cheeseman. A letter dated 11 October is among the Matthews correspondence, and is reprinted in Eric Scanlen's Matthews & Son on orchids. Buy a copy now and find out what Ernie discovered.

Pterostylis squamata is a West Australian of a different form altogether. P. tasmanica has been known as P. plumosa and P. barbata. Ernie was Ernest William Matthews, the nephew of RH Matthews. The road to Herekino has some interesting stopping places, but peg 312 is long gone.