Sincere thanks from those members of the Group who attended the Taranaki field days 9-11 November in association with the AGM: we thank Ken Davies and Ernie Corbett, who organised good accommodation, ably guided interesting field outings, and orchestrated a generally fine time. And John Dodunski who allowed us to look at his extraordinary collection; and the members who put together a great "pot luck" dinner, Mike and Emma Duncan for their excellent talk on Australian orchids; and Eric Scanlen for his 3D show (I missed it, sad to say, but I hear it has got even better), and George Fuller for bringing in his stunningly well grown specimen plants.

The field excursions to city street side plantings revealed healthy Thelymitra longifolia and Microtis unifolia; it's a nice aesthetic juxtaposition - wild orchids in city streets - but I have to say Ken and Ernie missed the big colony of Earina mucronata on the great old oak in the yard of the Cathedral Church of St Mary, its roots nourished by your editor's great great grandfather's grave.

The Pukeiti gardens revealed Earina mucronata fl., Nematoceras "Trotters" fl., Singularybas fl.,
N. rivulare agg. seed, N. macranthum and N. trilobum agg. aborted fl., Pterostylis aff. montana fl.,
P. cardiostigma bud. N. Egmont next day showed us Pterostylis venosa in flower, N. acuminatum fl., N. trilobum agg. ("tricraig"?) fl.

I had heard that the little Taranaki Pterostylis "sphagnum" John Dodunski discovered, was self-fertile and had a nonirritable labellum. We visited John, examined a healthy specimen of P. "sphagnum", noted the sharply forward-leaning stance (rare in a selfer), and triggered the
very irritable labellum (see photographs). Rumour duly scotched.

There's another rumour, that Pterostylis venosa has a furry labellum. I had not seen the North Island plant until this Taranaki weekend, but was quite certain the South Island plant (as I knew it from around Dunedin and Queenstown) did not have such a labellum, so wondered if the North Island plant was perhaps a different entity. Close examination of a flower from Taranaki, however, persuades me that (1) it doesn't have a furry labellum, and (2) it's identical with the South Island plant. Rumour 2 (where did that one come from?) thus scotched.

Dorothy Cooper founded the Group in 1982, and she handed over to me five years later. I have been Convenor of the Group for 20 years, and I am pleased David McConachie has now agreed to take the role. Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and I are all getting a bit long in the tooth, and it is good to hand over to youthful and capable talent (I don't want to wait until I fall out of a coconut palm).

I do want to recognise and applaud those who accepted office on the Group's Executive: David McConachie (Chair), Garry Penniall (Secretary), Judith Tyler (Treasurer), Brian Tyler, Eric Scanlen, Graeme Jane. Without people prepared to do this work, enterprises such as ours simply founder:
I wish them wisdom in good governance ("govern" is from gubernator: a rudder - and indeed
their task is to steer the Group on a proper course).

I continue as your humble editor (Editor humilis), and of course the Journal is your native orchid mouthpiece, not just mine: feel free to share your knowledge, ask your questions, pose your conundrums, contribute your expertise, argue the point, challenge the logic of wayward contributors, and exploit this publication as a proper forum for the great debate that we call science.

Kevin Matthews has sent some interesting photographs-several of different colour forms of Thelymitra sanscilia (Fig.4, 5), one of them apparently derived from T. colensoi (Fig.6),
growing alongside it; a white T. aemula (Fig.7); a white T. pulchella with blue stripes (Fig.8);
a T. aff. pauciflora with a magenta post-anther lobe (Fig.13); T. "darkie" (Fig.11); T. "sky" (Fig.12).

His shot of thrips carrying Thelymitra pollen are food for thought: "Yesterday while out at Ohia
I observed thrips crawling over Thelymitra fertile flower parts.

The NZ flower thrip visits a large range of flowers both native and exotic. John Early has identified these tentatively as Thrips obscuratus. You can see pollen attached to the thrip's right side abdomen in the Thelymitra pulchella photograph" (Fig.9, 10).

Mike Lusk sent (2 Dec 07) "a couple of photos of what we think is Pterostylis venosa…. I had seen it a couple of years ago while doing a Ruahine crossing and got a dud photo. So I went back in early Nov and was pleased to find good numbers, all at or on the high points of Maharahara 1095m and Matanganui 1074m.

The track at that level is a corridor through almost pure and very dense leatherwood (Olearia colensoi) with the orchids growing along both edges. It wasn't possible to see far off the track as the leatherwood was not only dense but festooned with moss, so that even the few ferns were struggling."

I think these are P. humilis, but its difficult to be certain without looking at the stigma - Ed.

Mark Moorhouse emailed (29 Nov 07), after having earlier found a strange Stegostyla bud, "Returned twice to Sherry River before finding bud in final stages of opening today.

A small amount of assistance revealed what appears to be an extremely late and rather unusual variation of S. lyallii. All lyallii normals in the area finished flowering a week ago.

Two striking features. The labellum midlobe is virtually callus-free down both its sides, is very narrow, and triangular, but does have fine bumps along its edges. Two calli appear each side at the base of the labellum wings.

"The flowering bracts are quite abnormal, cf S. lyallii.  The lower bract is extremely long, rolled into a terete form, The upper flowering bract is also very long, just overtopping the ovary, strongly triangular and fully sheathing at its base.  Petals are narrow-ovate, 5 nerved, dorsal extremely long, relatively narrow and acute at tip. Dorsal sepal also sitting at atypical angle for local lyallii, being held almost vertically (Fig.15).

Fig 15

"I do have another photo taken some years back at Mt Robert, St Arnaud of a similar plant. I did wonder if any Aussie spp match, but could only find one pic of S. alpina taken in Tasmania with much similarity.

"First reaction is, Oh it's  deformed. But in fact it's perfectly formed and very reminiscent of Adenochilus midobe tip. Is a sterile cross of Adenochilus and S. lyallii possible?

These species do have a brief overlap in flowering times here. And in both the instances I have run across, both species were present. I am first to concede it's a pretty wild theory, but Adenochilus is closely enough related to have begun it's botanical life as a Caladenia so I don't see a cross as totally ridiculous."

Mark emailed again, "Now for some more excellent news. After two seasons of fruitless searches, we were privileged to find another Stegostyla 'minor' about a mile from the known two specimens that came up on Upson's Block this season.

This plant is extremely scarce and truly in danger of extinction before it reaches official recognition as a new species if current drought conditions prevail for another season or two.

This specimen is slightly shorter and blunter in the dorsal overhang dept. than our other finds
but otherwise has all the S. 'minor' hallmarks. Flowering now! (Fig.16).

"Habitat for S. 'minor':  Tall open manuka/kanuka in a montane situation, shallow gradient and pockets of light, and the presence of small mosses are important, don't search steep banks, etc unless they contain flattish hollows. If there's a bit of blue mudstone about, all the better but not
a criterion.

Normally S. lyallii and other smaller Caladenia's present, so this basically says they like similar conditions.  They tend to be solitary, rather like S. atradenia, and are fertile. They set seed, so
must frequently self. 

If you are looking in areas where there are numbers of S. lyallii, it is very easy to recognise them using the green-flushed dorsal with red stipitate glands as first point of recognition on what otherwise might be mistaken for a small S. lyallii, after that, an examination of labellum will reveal long gracefully curved lateral calli on the midlobe base, and two rows of long stalked calli down the middle and extending but diminishing onto the midlobe.

"Please encourage others to have another look at their favourite S. lyallii haunts. We need help to establish a population base big enough to send a sample to the herbarium. I believe the ranges behind Wellington are similar enough to warrant looking there, as are wetter parts of the inner Marlborough sounds where S. lyallii almost reaches sea level, no doubt as a result of the ria coastline formation".

Rebecca Bowater emailed (24 Nov 07), "I found this white orchid (Fig.17) on the Bridle track at Denniston Westport this week on a mossy bank. Is it Singularybas oblongus white form?" Well, it is a white form of that aggregate, certainly - and not an albino (look at all the colour in
the leaf). Rebecca noted other normal red plants within a metre.

By an extraordinary coincidence, Jeremy Rolfe emailed within an hour, "Attached are photos of white-flowered Singularybas from the Waitakere Ranges (Fig.18). I was with Jeff McAuley of Oratia Native Plant Nursery when we found up to 20 plants. We did not find any 'normal' S. oblongus amongst these plants, although it was common in similar habitat a few hundred metres beyond
the site of the white-flowered plants."

Drymoanthus flavus seems nowhere to be common, but that may be because it prefers the small outer branches of forest trees. It was certainly profuse on 2-6cm branches of a fallen
kamahi in the Tautuku forest, Catlins region on 28 November (Fig.19). It was equally at home
on small coastal totara in a thicket at Surat Bay (Fig.20).

At Upper Morrison's Creek, Leith Valley, Dunedin, the Nematoceras iridescens were still in flower on 27 November.

At Shag Point north of Dunedin there was an extensive patch of what I take to be Nematoceras papillosum. This is one of the N. macranthum variants, characterised by the pale lower part of
the labellum, and the very papillose leaf and labellum. See Figs.22-24).

Kevin Matthews emailed (10 Dec 07), " I have a new site up here for Pterostylis puberula
on the the Rangaunu Harbour and west of Ohia. The colony has at least 30 plants with 7 bearing mature seed pods. I will follow the colony with interest next flowering season, hopefully it's more extensive in the close area".

At http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2005/1499533.htm you can read
that climate change affects flowers too.

Dr Marie Keatley of the University of Melbourne has examined records for more than 20 years, including 13 of the warmest years ever recorded in Australia. Her records of 56 plant species in Victoria show a shift in all their flowering dates, which could affect cross-pollination; 24 species began flowering on average 2 weeks earlier over the past 22 years, while the remaining flowered about 3 weeks later.

The Orchadian of December 07 carried this story:

"Tourist Road orchids slashed by Sydney Catchment Authority".

"There are well known populations of rare Orchids along Tourist Road, Kangajoon in the Southern Highlands. The SCA, which is charged with managing the area, is well aware that there are rare Orchids and other Endangered Species present here. They have been told that by local environmentalists and have even commissioned biologists to survey the area, as a result of that advice.

"They might argue that this slashing was necessary for fire prevention However, in previous years they have done this slashing in late winter. This year, they have done it in the height of Orchid-flowering season. This is a calamity.

"With many fine Orchids in full flower this year, this is a calamity. All those plants will have had their flower heads, or seed capsules destroyed. That means none of these plants can set seed for future years. None of them.

"The plants tubers will survive, but with the loss of leaves, the plants will have been weakened.
If they are slashed again next year, at this time, the plants are likely to die out.

"This is disastrous for the Orchids. And given that the SCA knows about these plants it is an act
of wanton vandalism on their part."

Denis Wilson ANOS Robertson

Credit where credit is due, wrote Bruce Irwin (15 Dec 07), "All NZNOG members probably
agree with me that the main purpose of our Journal is to disseminate information about our
native orchids. The orchids cannot disseminate that information by themselves.

The editor depends on NOG members and people of similar interests for copy. His editorials,
often based on his extensive reading from the world at large supplement the efforts of those
contributors. Should the editor be given credit for the spectacular growth of the Journal in
recent years? Certainly he should, together with all contributors great and small. However,
I should like to mention the enormous contribution of a NOG member, along rather different
lines

Some years ago, about the time digital cameras arrived on the scene, Brian Tyler suggested
that all my orchid drawings should be recorded, so that if the originals were destroyed by
fire or other disaster, the information they contained would not be lost forever. I had often
thought of the problem, but perhaps I was putting too much importance on my drawings.

Here was somebody with similar thoughts to my own and he wasn't just suggesting action,
he was asking if he might do it. I must mention that neither Brian nor I had any idea of
producing a book. The plan was to safeguard the information contained in the drawings
and to make them available on the internet, whatever that might be. The book was Ian St
George's brainchild.

Brian took home the large folder of Corybas drawings to photograph. After some months
he admitted the task was more involved than expected. To use an American saying, I had
placed my drawings "every which way" on the paper, some on their sides, some upside down,
some even the right way up. My scribbled notes were also haphazard, sometimes right over
parts of other drawings. Even so Brian asked for more folders.

Eventually proof sheets of pages arrived, so I had the task of checking Brian's typed notes
against my original scribble. That wasn't easy. Constant shuffling through the folders to
check some small point had smudged my barely legible scrawl. Though I found quite a few
mistranslations, I was impressed by how much effort he had put into erasing my scribble
and replacing it with "now legible" type. Generally too, all drawings were right way up.

Several times I was asked how my book was coming on. I disowned it. I said it was Brian's
book, my drawings were merely his subject. I noted in pre-publication notices, that all 30
copies of the book would be signed by me. Why not Brian? That was just another problem
Brian had to solve. All 90kg of books travelled in Brian's car from Levin to Tauranga and
back so that I could sign them. One wag asked if signing all those copies had given me
writers' cramp.

The book is an unusual one. Jean Coe, aware that the original drawings were not prepared
with publication in mind, wrote in a very perceptive critique, "It was a jumble of sketches
and private notes but is now rearranged and published for the preservation of the valuable
material it contains…" Unfortunately no mention is made that it is Brian who deserves any
credit, but believe me, that is the truth.

Thank you Brian.    

Yes, indeed - Ed.

Maori, Pasifika and low income children are blighted by poor health status, Tariana Turia, health spokesperson for the Maori Party said in a press release on 27 November 2007. She went on to extend the metaphor: "The delicate, exquisite beauty of the native orchid flower, Winika, is an appropriate image to demonstrate the complexity of environmental impacts upon children.

This beautiful putiputi grows out of the strength provided from its source - a rock, a tree, a foundation" said Mrs Turia. "Indeed so striking is the flower that Tainui named one of their prized waka taua, 'Te Winika', after the fine orchid which grew on the totara tree which formed the hull of the canoe.

This is an inspiring image of hope from which to consider the outcomes of this latest report from the Paediatric Society's analysis into childhood diseases" said Mrs Turia. "If we can create supportive and healthy environments, to ensure all of our communities are equipped to be sites of wellbeing, then the health of our children will blossom".

She concluded, "There is no escaping from the inevitable conclusion, that if we are to truly care for all our treasured orchids, including our native species, every effort must be taken to invest in strong monitoring approaches and comprehensive indicators of wellbeing".

There's an interesting reference to Nematoceras hypogaeum in Augustus Hamilton's diary.

Hamilton was a teacher, who in the 1880s was living at Petane, and who went on to be Registrar at the University of Otago, and later Director of the Dominion Museum. Colenso had observed in his description, "I have known this plant for some years, but never found it in flower until the spring of 1883, mainly owing to its peculiar manner of growth, and its very early flowering….
It grows pretty thickly scattered in beds, showing its small glistening leaf just above the mosses and débris of fallen Fagus leaves (F. solandri), but flowering specimens are very scarce, not one plant in twenty bearing a flower." [1]

Hamilton wrote (1 Jan 1883), "A little orchid has puzzled him very much as he cannot get any flowers, the shape of the leaf is peculiar. It grows on the banks under birch trees."

He sketched the leaf [2]. Colenso referred to his Corysanthes hypogaea in a letter of 14 Nov 1883 to David Balfour of Glenross Station (who had sent him specimens of Corysanthes papillosa),
"Your tin with bottle and Orchid in spirit pleased me much; if possible let me have more flowers, fresh, put into damp soft & clean Moss, in a box, match box will do - never mind leaves or roots.

It may prove to be a new spn. We have 4 or 5, Corysanthes - curiously enough, the one I had so long sought, & only got by going to the Bush in Sept, is very near to yours, but much smaller." [3].

1. Colenso W. A further Contribution towards making known the Botany of N Z.Trans N.Z.Inst. 1883; 16: 336.
2. O'Rourke R (ed). A diary of the late Augustus Hamilton. Vol III 1 Jan-28 Apr 1883. Te Papa 2005.
3. Colenso, William. Letters to Balfour, 1875-1889. Ms 88-103-1/07. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Bob Bates wrote (Nossa Journal Dec 07) on "Thelymitra cyanapicata Jeanes, another lost orchid species rediscovered: After reading Andy Young's article in the Oct issue of the NOSSA journal concerning the rediscovery of Thelymitra matthewsii in SA, on Kangaroo Island we can report on some more good news re the rediscovery of a second 'lost sun orchid' in SA.

"When the endangered sun orchid Thelymitra cyanapicata was described by Jeff Jeanes in 2005 this Adelaide Hills endemic had not been seen this century.  The Type location near Kuitpo on private property had been gradually destroyed since 1990 and the only other population in an unplanted section of Knott Hill FR had apparently disappeared under feral pines.

These feral pines and the adjacent plantation were clearfelled in 2005-6 and the area had been ploughed and sprayed with herbicide ready for replanting (illegally in this case as the sun orchids occurred on a peaty sand bog that had never been cultivated).

Amazing as it may seem government departments are allowed to clear wetlands, an offence
that would incur a huge fine to a private individual or company. Surprisingly NOSSA members noticed in May 2007 that sun orchid leaves were appearing all over the clearfelled areas. DEH, TPAG, NOSSA and Forestry SA officials met and it was decided the plants would be marked in case any were the by now critically endangered T. cyanapicata. Surprisingly the area was replanted with pines anyway. Many plants were covered with plastic domes for protection in September.

At flowering time I visited and found that among the seven species of sun orchid flowering in this small exclusion zone there were at least three T. cyanapicata! It was not extinct at least.  
As there was a similar block of felled pines nearby with thousands of sun orchid leaves and many rare plant species I checked it out and sure enough next to a Viminaria bog was a large population of almost one hundred T. cyanapicata along with some ten other sun orchid species. Scattered plants of T. cyanapicata occurred over the whole block.

This small block rich with rare native plants lies between a native forest reserve and the road.  It was visited by government officials, TPAG and NOSSA in mid october and it was determined that as it was only a small area with rich diversity it would not be planted to pines but be added to the reserve system as a special Thelymitra cyanapicata wetland reserve.

It all sounds great but I have since heard that the block was sprayed with herbicide.  If this is the case then we have a government department knowingly destroying rare plant habitat, a critically endangered orchid and a small wetland.  Let's hope that this did not happen.  In any case NOSSA will be fighting to ensure that the area with the endangered orchid is saved.  Many thanks to those who have been involved so far in the effort to save the species."

Pat Enright emailed (3 Jan 08), "Here is the full list of orchids to date for the Mangatainoka Valley.
I will go back next year to update the earlier orchids especially the Nematoceras. Aporostylis bifolia, Caladenia chlorostyla (unc) (flowering 22/12/07), Earina autumnalis, Earina mucronata, Gastrodia cunninghamii (full flower 2/1/08), quite sweetly scented, ? Nematoceras longipetalum, ? Nematoceras macranthum, Pterostylis banksii, Pterostylis cardiostigma (unc), Pterostylis montana agg. (sensu Moore) (flowering 22/12/07), Simpliglottis cornuta, Singularybas oblonga, Thelymitra hatchii (unc) (flowering 22/12/07), Thelymitra longifolia agg. (two forms), Winika cunninghamii."

Mangatainoka is where Tui beer is brewed - Ed.

Pat also found, in the Waiohine valley, Tararua SFP,  the pink-ciliated Thelymitra aff. hatchii previously reported by Margaret Menzies from a Taranaki site now destroyed, and by your editor from Mt Holdsworth, Tararua SFP.

In a superb paper entitled "Contributions to a chromosomal atlas of the New Zealand flora-39. Orchidaceae" (New Zealand Journal of Botany 2007; 45: 611-684), Murray Dawson, Brian Molloy and Ernst Beuzenberg discuss and illustrate the chromosomes of most of the New Zealand orchids: "Somatic chromosome numbers are documented for the majority of the New Zealand indigenous Orchidaceae, with counts for 80 species, 23 taxonomically indeterminate taxa, and 3 hybrids in 34 genera.

Related chromosome counts are provided from elsewhere for comparison". Murray Dawson has agreed to write a synopsis of the main points in a forthcoming paper in this journal.

The work to a large extent supports the DNA-based taxonomy of Jones, Clements and Molloy,
but there are some surprises, revealed almost in passing, and these too will be the subject of
an explanatory piece by Brian Molloy in a future issue.