Journal Number 108
May 2008

Notes etc

We reported in the last issue that Pat Enright 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.

We sent specimens to Brian Molloy, who emailed,  "Last Friday I had a look at the pollen of the
flowers you sent, the one with a pinky-red brush of hairs, a character not unusual in T. hatchii.  

As I expected from the rest of the floral characters, the pollen consisted of two types, monads
or single grains, and tetrads, grains in fours,or breaking up into threes or twos.

There were also many sterile grains consistent with an amphidiploid, in this case T. hatchii
( T. formosa X T. longifolia ). Conclusion: your specimen is T. hatchii, a variable taxon like
T. pulchella, another amphidiploid." 

Jeremy Rolfe emailed (23 Dec 07),  I thought you might be interested in my contribution on
Thelymitra hatchii variation in the Tararua Range, as well as T. pulchella and T. x dentata:

Thelymitra hatchii (yellow cilia) on Kaitoke Ridge Track (Fig.7), T. hatchii (white cilia) on
Dobson Loop Track, southern Tararua Forest Park (Fig.8).

At Kaitoke Ridge (Sat 22 Dec), T. longifolia, T. pulchella numerous; T. hatchii less common.

Puffer / Dobson Loop Track (Sun 23 Dec), T. longifolia, T. pulchella numerous, T. x dentata
reasonably common, occasional T. hatchii, two specimens seen of T. cyanea.

T. pulchella occurred in two distinct colour forms - white with blue stripes (Fig.9),
mauve with blue stripes (Fig.10). All specimens of T. x dentata were white with blue stripes. 

Fig 7  Thelymitra hatchii (yellow cilia)		Fig 8  Thelymitra hatchii (white cilia)
Fig 9  Thelymitra pulchella (white with blue stripes)		Fig 10  Thelymitra pulchella (mauve with blue stripes)

Kevin Matthews reports another new site for Pterostylis puberula on the Rangaunu Harbour west of Ohia.
The colony has at least 30 plants with 7 bearing mature seed pods.
He will follow the colony with interest next flowering season.

Kevin emailed with the cover picture of Thelymitra cyanea (five flowers open at once!) on 14 January. ER5.

Taxonomic exaggeration and its effects on orchid conservation!

Yohan Pillon and Mark W. Chase of New Caledonia and Kew wrote (in a research note in Conservation
Biology 21 (1): 263–265), "Orchids are the largest family of flowering plants, encompassing several
times as many species as birds or mammals. Because of their diversity, charisma, and threats from
over collection and habitat loss, they are a key group in conservation.

Nevertheless, preservation of this group is plagued by taxonomic problems, particularly in Europe,
where new taxa are actively being described. We used a checklist of orchids to compare the taxonomic
treatment of this family between Europe and neighbouring areas to search for geographical patterns.

Numbers of invalid, infra specific, and hybrid names are significantly higher in Europe than in surrounding
areas. Recognition of numerous and poorly circumscribed orchid taxa is a serious obstacle to their
conservation because rare, poorly defined species may be prioritised for conservation over taxonomically  
good  species. This phenomenon may be the result of the popularity of orchids in Europe.

We believe that more taxonomic effort should be made in other areas of the world (e.g., the tropics)
and on less charismatic groups. 

Hmm. I don’t know about that - Ed.

Rotorua Bot Soc members (leader Chris Ecroyd, finder Sarah Beadel) found 70 plants of
Calochilus robertsonii at Lake Rotokawa on 3 November - many in  spectacular flower 
(NZ Bot Soc Newsletter Dec 2007).

Nelson Bot Soc members found Nematoceras  whiskers  at Sawcut Gorge on 20 October 2007 (ibid.)

Kendyll Levy (Mark Moorhouse’s daughter) emailed,  During the winter of last year [2007] my husband
Lloyd and I made a trip into the Cascade valley some 65 km or so south of Haast. When we returned my
Dad made the usual request - a description of the orchids found. It being the wrong time of year a few
dried Thelymitra seed pods were pretty much all we found. Dad then commented on the fact that very
little had been recorded in this ER (71.01) the most probable cause being the distance off the main road,
rather than a lack of orchids.

I convinced my husband that we needed to go there again during flowering season and so early this summer
we returned. As is typical of the South Island’s West Coast, Earina autumnalis and Winika hang from every
second tree even in the most exposed places -eg. a single tree in the middle of a massive paddock.

Cascade is a place of extremes. It has ice capped mountains as a backdrop. The river passes through a
mineral belt where grows Thelymitra cyanea in pink and blue and T. pulchella.

The herb fields there were also home to Aporostylis bifolia, Singularybas oblongus and a Prasophyllum sp.
The river then passes through dense beech forest, very swampy anywhere not sloping and down through
wide grassy river flats. The edge of the swamp turned up a round leaf Nematoceras which I theorise to be
N. macranthum but this will require further investigation during another flowering season - my husband
willing of course. We came ill prepared or I should say ill vehicled and whilst we gained permission to cross
the privately owned land in search of orchids, we didn't get to drive very far as our car couldn't get through
the first ford which is only about 1 kilometre past the gate and we had to walk the rest of the way.

On our return to Jacksons Bay we stopped at the Lake Ellery Walkway and found two different Pterostylis in
seed, one with the distinctive stripes of P. irsoniana. The other with the broad leaf of P. australis and more
of the round leafed Nematoceras. A quick look under the ngaio trees at Jacksons Bay on our return home
turned up nothing. 

A Lesson on Dendrobium:  Gordon Sylvester wrote. Journal 107 raised the question of another
species described by William Colenso, which was collected from the South Wellington Coast: and several
times commented on by William without convincing anyone.

Variations have been noted in the colourings of Winika ranging from white and apple green to an overall
light red mauve on the flower. These have always been dismissed as local variations within the species.
The article concentrates on the number of ridges on the base of the labellum, raising the question of a
possible new  old  species.

I decided to go and have a look at my nearest Winika cunninghamii repository behind Dillmanstown on
16 Feb 2008 hopefully to see if any of the dozens of plants living a rupestral lifestyle on the tailings would
still be in flower. Walking into the site, I was amazed at the density of flowering of Earina autumnalis and
the heavily scented atmosphere. There were large quantities of bumble bees working these concentrated
sites of flowers.

On the tailing field the several dozen W. cunninghamii showed a good quantity of fat seed pods from the
December / January flowering, but more importantly about a dozen flowers were still open and several
buds were still evident. This particular site has two variations of flower colouring. A white and apple green,
with a dark wine red face to the column and a white and apple green with the bluey red margin to the labellum
and back of the column.

Five flowers were collected and examined; all were on plants spread over 30 to 40 metres on the top of the
pile of tailings. These five broke down to one flower with five keels, one flower with five prominent and one
indistinct mid column, and three flowers with four keels. The flower with the indistinct ridge also had a fold
in the labellum.

Thomas Cheeseman had already expressed his doubts about this being a separate species: maybe the
chromosome tool needs to be employed yet again. However I will be a lot more observant next season.

Tailings: - a collection of large boulders removed during gold mining operations and stacked on worked
over ground; in this particular place these piles are about 15m high.