|
Journal Number 106
December 2007
THE COLUMN
Nematoceras at Te Kauri Lodge
By Eric Scanlen
Who has heard of Nematoceras "Motutangi"? You haven't? Never mind, not many have.
The Column indexed it then forgot about it, when Bruce Irwin coined the tag-name in Journal
83:19, June 2002. Bruce of course had inside information, having drawn it in 1988 and 1989
as you can see in his book [1] of magnificent orchid drawings.
Doug McCrae had found it at Motutangi, north of Kaitaia and had it flowering in his shade house near Peria, in September 1988. So Bruce pickled some flowers for drawing back at home.
His 1989 drawing is more vibrant and looks as though it was taken from live specimens. |
 Harking back 109 years to 10 Oct 1898, it seems from his letters, that RH Matthews (RHM) sent TF Cheeseman this orchid from Kaitaia, where he found it whilst looking for Anzybas rotundifolius [1]. Cheeseman identified it, following T Kirk's error, [Nsltr 17:3], as Corysanthes rotundifolius thus lumping it with what is now Nematoceras rivulare. It flowers in late Oct/Nov, not Sept.
Compare Bruce's drawing with Fig. 18 - right, N. rivulare, with its extended labellum tube. Clearly related aren't they? but differing
both in structure and flowering time.
The Column was puzzled by RHM's Sept flowering orchid when compiling ref. 1 and used RHM's list of 27 Dec. 1898 to tag it in absentia as Nematoceras "Sep". But it has to be Bruce's
N. "Motutangi", doesn't it? What else?
It seemed to be commoner than N. rivulare in 1898, because RHM referred to it as "the rotundifolius" in his letters.
Wayne Cribb and
the Column hunted for it in 2005, up RHM's Okahu Creek
(now Tarawhaturoa
Stream) but found only
N. rivulare [J98:38].
Kevin Matthews sought it at Motutangi in early Sept 2007 but found that
previously good orchid
country there had been drained and developed into good farm land;
anathema to orchids.
The Column, en route to Kaitaia, sought
N. "Motutangi" on the banks of the
Mangamuka Stream on
11 Sept but kept finding only mats of
tedious N. rivulare with early buds
like specks, plus a huge
clump of Earina mucronata in mature
flower; so early!
The Kevin/Column duo hunted for N. "Motutangi" up RHM's Okahu Steam where they had no
trouble finding an old, very dead pig, but no N. "Motutangi". They tried a likely stream at Pukepoto
and another at Tauroa on the south end of Ninety Mile Beach but the dripping stream banks,
beloved of N. rivulare agg, were not in evidence in the lower reaches.
All that turned up at Tauroa,
was a healthy colony of Pterostylis agathicola with no present-day
kauri within coo-ee.
Their emerald green looked like P. graminea but the short leaves, right
twisted labellum and
inflated base to the galeas could only be P. agathicola.
Elva Shine had months earlier discovered violet-like leaves on the shore of Lake Waikaramu at Kaimaumau but on 13 Sept, the level was too high for the duo, flooding back into the rapidly spreading Acacia longifolia and of course, covering sign of any N. "Motutangi".
However, a bug eaten, unstriped blue Thelymitra "sansfimbria" was trying to open on a dryish track NW of the gorse-covered landing strip, along with three lonely and pale pink Caladenia alata.
Nearer the beach, Cryptostylis subulata was in evidence along a flooded DoC vehicle track. At least one robust plant was in full flower - in September?! Kevin was jubilant; this reinforced his claim that odd plants flower all year round in the winterless(?) north, not just in November.
Nematoceras "Motutangi" now seems to be either rare or extinct! In the hope that it is only rare, it is herein publicised so that anyone near a dripping, moss covered stream bank in the Kaitaia region will know what to look for, early in any September. |
Nematoceras "Motutangi" from Bruce Irwin's 1989 drawing.
References
Tyler, B. St George, I.M. Bruce Irwin's drawings of New Zealand orchids, NZNOG 2007
Scanlen, E.A. Matthews and Son on orchids, NZNOG Historical Series 14, 2006.
|
