The cover picture is Georgina Upson's photo of Mark Moorhouse's Stegostyla "minor"
from Baton Valley.

Eric Scanlen wrote, "Only four known plants remain there after two dry seasons. See Mark's reports in Nsltr 6 from Big Bush SF and in J95:15,31 with Georgina's pic in J101:31.

It is clearly Stegostyla with the wide dorsal sepal and calli advancing right down the midlobe top but it is notably different from the S. lyallii/ atradenia set. So, be alert for this unnamed and rare taxon on forest edges in November, especially in Nelson."

Mike Lusk emailed (26 Feb 07), "I live in Havelock North and am a keen tramper and amateur botanist with, along with a tramping friend, a particular interest in native orchids. I am keen to join the group and would be grateful if you could send details. Being recently retired I hope to spend a lot more time in the ranges, and it would be good to link up with others who share our interest.

Last weekend I was in the Kawekas, just north of the Comet hoping to see Thelymitra 'Comet', which neither of us have been able to find on the Comet.

Somewhat to my surprise I was able to photograph, just after a massive hour-long thunderstorm and while it was still raining, some still open flowers of I think 2 different Thelymitra's, but neither are, I believe 'Comet'. One in particular I can't identify either from your book or from the Field guide 2005 so I would like to email the image it to someone (? you) for ID.

I had a quick look in the Blowhard Bush on the way home but all the Thelymitra's there were long past flowering. As a matter of interest both of us work with 'Friends of Te Mata Park' and have now identified 7 different orchids there." (The Column takes up the story from here - see p. 28 - Ed.)

Tricia Aspin emailed, "I was talking with Peter de Lange last week and he said that it was now considered that taraire wag not the essential factor for the occurrence of Danhatchia australis
but that nikau was, even though he has seen it under Spanish heather.

Anyhow .... Just before last Christmas I was invited to join a group of Auckland botanists to conduct plant surveys of Motukaikoura, an island to the west of Port Fitzroy on Great Barrier Is. During the course of surveys one area covered was a valley system covered in taraire dominant forest. I was with Ewen Cameron and Mei Nee Lee from AK and a young entomologist, Aidan O'Donnell at the time.

There was a dense canopy of taraire and Danhatchia australis was mentioned and so I said 'Just
sit down and if it is there we'll see it.'  It felt right and sure enough just behind me were 4 stems
in flower although none were open. We were thrilled as the species hadn't been recorded on this
island. When the rest of the group joined us another 3 more were found.

Now, the most interesting part is that in this location there is not a single nikau in sight! In fact there is just one adult nikau recorded and that is on the other side of the island. Methinks this orchid has much yet to be discovered as far as mycorrhizal connections go. Incidentally, I have found this past season to have a very poor showing of Danhatchia at Matakawau with only 8 stems showing over 2 colonies."

Rob Suisted (Nature's Pic Images: New Zealand nature and scenic photography, and comprehensive stock library, Business email: robsuisted@naturespic.com) sent the Prasophyllum colensoi in the photo on the right. Rob emailed, "It was filmed on Enderby Island, Auckland Islands, on 26 January 2007.

Many seen, but most where past their best. You might also like to have a look at the following link to all orchid shots I have online: http://www.naturespic.com/NewZealand/result_search.asp?
search=orchid.

On another note, while at Macquarie Island last week I spotted an orchid in a sample container in the doctor's surgery which they have collected as a new species?. From the short talk I had with the Dr on Macca, he was pressing several samples, had one in preservative, and said the holotype was back in Oz. 'Twas very small like a spider orchid, but I didn't have a good look'. No doubt it was Nematoceras sulcatum.

Graeme Hill wrote (28 March), "I've just returned from going bush and around Ohakune saw plenty of orchids. Not many in flower of course and the sun orchids had shut up shop due to the weather.

It was truly miserable just before the lahar came down. Great timing on my part. However, I found this little baby and plenty like it around a small patch behind some tea-tree scrub in the Rotokura eco reserve.... Orthoceras novae-zeelandiae?"

Yes indeed, overmature, but still very late - Ed.

Kevin Matthews emailed (27 Feb 07), "Went on a recce with Maureen Young & Barbara Parrish out to Karikari for the up coming bot soc Easter field trip. I found 8 only early flowering Corunastylis pumila (Photo below left) at a hot spot for rarities in Lake Ohia.

Had a good look under the microscope and it fits the description bang on. Just love the crab pincher like column arms, these pretty tiny wee flowers are a challenge to photograph. I had to do a lot of stuffing around to lay the plant over, using sphagnum for backing and reflective paper to get this shot....The orchid measures 90mm high with the 18 flower / flower buds making up 21mm of that."

Kevin later sent the photo below right, noting "Have been doing a bit of a recce at Kaimaumau wetland for later in the season.... This Cryptostylis subulata was growing in/on a rotting kauri stump. It's worth while noting that C subulata is at some stage of flowering in the Kaimaumau area all year round.

This particular site is also looking good for a decent Thelymitra display. I found lots of leaf on
old kauri which will almost certainly turn out to be T. malvina."

Quite by chance, shortly after I had written about the two extremes of colour of Acianthus sinclairii (page 6), Kevin Matthews emailed (10 June), "I had a very interesting late afternoon up at Hukatere, 90 Mile Beach. I found lots of orchid leaf, Thelymitra, Microtis, possibly Prasophyllum and a small but thick colony of this lovely red/purple Acianthus sinclairii. All were growing in soft yellow sand generally topped with a thin layer of moss as per photo.

You will note that the basal leaf is very basal i.e. hugging the ground. All plants in the colony had this type of basal leaf... as opposed to the identification of the Australian Acianthus and our A. sinclairii featuring the basal leaf clearly above ground level. In addition to this ground hugging feature the margin of the leaf is undulate and irregular making the leaf of this wee colony quite different to other Acianthus that I'm aware of in the north and thereabouts.

The maximum number of flowers counted was 4 with a minimum of 2. They were at various stages of flower, some having finished, some with no peduncle which may not proceed to flower.

Eric Scanlen emailed, "A few years back, there was a persistent hypothesis afoot that New Zealand's and Australia's orchid species were all different. This may have been a reaction to, or an extrapolation of, the number of shared species which dwindled in successive articles in the Proceedings and in our esteemed Journals.

In particular, Peter de Lange has opined that three NZ species which had `aff.' inserted to separate them from their Aussie counterparts, in all probability, should not have. So in the meantime, Peter advises that the following should revert back to true species rather than be affinis to an Australian one.

They are Microtis aff. parviflora Great Barrier, (J73:29), M aff. oligantha Chathams (J77:10) and Calochilus aff. herbaceus  (J76:18). Journal references are for the first mention of the `aff.' taxon now discontinued.

There may be others in the pipeline but these are the most outstanding, for the purposes of the
endangered species list and the Column's list of unnamed taxa published in the Journals which
has just shrunk by three to 97."