William Colenso described Pterostylis subsimilis in 1896.

Cheeseman included it in P. banksii, but later Hatch separated
P. patens as a distinct variety, and Moore agreed, then Molloy re-established its specific rank.

P. subsimilis seems to have gone with P. patens, so now it is included as a synonym of P. patens rather than of P. banksii. But is that correct? or is P. subsimilis something else entirely?

Colenso's description of P. subsimilis
(From Trans. N.Z. Inst. 1896; 28: 611)

Plant 8in. high. Leaves, radical 0; stem-leaves 5, distant, lanceolate, much acuminate, the 4 uppermost 4in. long 1/2 in. wide, the lowest leaf small and narrow 2in. long, sessile, half-clasping, very membranous; midrib slight; veins distantly reticulated, forming long areoles; near base of the stem 3 short sheathing-bracts. Scape slender, 1-flowered. Galea erect, curved; dorsal sepal 2in. long, very acuminate; petals linear-lanceolate, l¼ in. long, acute; lower lip deltoid, 2in. long, its two lobes long and slender with filiform red tails embracing galea; labellum red, ¾in. long, lanceolate, veined; veins parallel; midrib stout, minutely papillose, tip truncate; appendage broadly cuneate, curved, trifid, tips fimbriate; column erect, wings large 3½ lines long; lower lobes much produced, obtuse, rounded; upper lobes or teeth very narrow, erect, shorter than column; the uppermost dorsal margin of wings rounded and free from column; anther-hood large, erect, concave, apicular, reddish; stigma long, wider than column. Ovary 7 lines long, very slender.

Hab. Ruahine Mountain-range, east side: Mr. A. Olsen;1894.

Obs. A species prima facie resembling P. speciosa, Col. (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxii., p. 488).

Colenso described P. speciosa in 1890. Cheeseman lumped it with P. banksii, but later, with the recognition of P. patens as a distinct species, P. speciosa is now generally regarded as a synonym of P. patens. Colenso clearly saw P. speciosa as different from P. patens, which he had described 4 years earlier.

Colenso's description of P. speciosa
(From Trans. N.Z. Inst. 1890; 22: 488)

Plant stoutish, erect, 9in.-10in. high; stem and leaves of a reddish hue. Leaves: basal 0, but 2-4 small ovate pale scales, distant on lower stem; cauline 4, nearly equidistant, much longer than flower, 5in.-8in. long, ¾in. broad at middle, linear-lanceolate, acute very thin, sessile, clasping, much and reticulately veined, light-green. Perianth large sub 2in.; segments rather loosely spreading, richly variegated with bright-red dark-green and fawn colours, the upper portions of segments brilliant red; largely veined; veins very prominent. Dorsal sepal large, acuminate, slightly tailed; lateral sepals connate, erect, largely spreading above and behind dorsal, tails long; sinus very broad, base emarginate; lateral petals loose from dorsal sepal, their tips very acute, not tailed; tongue linear-lanceolate, 2 lines wide, veined, reddish, minutely and thickly papillose; tip obtuse, thickish and slightly knobbed; appendage long, curved, fimbriate. Column Hill long, wings broad, auricles long wide rounded, two subulate horns arising from outer angles shorter than the column, the margin between them slightly erose; stigma large, wider than column.

Hab. - Near Mount Tongariro, County of East Taupo; 1889: Mr. H. Hill.

The Type Localities

The type specimen of P. speciosa was collected by Henry Hill from the National Park region,
where he had a holiday home.

P. subsimilis was collected by Andreas Olsen from the Ruahines. Olsen had a property just southwest of Norsewood on the north side of Garfield Road (aka Friberg Line), near the railway at Makotuku, but his collections were all made on excursions to the Ruahine ranges. His nearest access to the Ruahines would have been via Gundries road or Ngamoko road from Norsewood [see J110 for a map and more detail].

The Ngamoko road ends where the so-called Apiti track begins. Years ago a road following the old Maori track from Norsewood to Apiti was planned, but the plans were never realised, and the walking track (called the Apiti track on the Norsewood side, and the Norsewood track on the Apiti side) is now popular.

What's there now?

I have occasionally walked in the National Park, but I have never seen plants like the Kew sheet of
P. speciosa.

I have walked the Apiti track in mid-November and early December, and the Pterostylis there include P. montana sensu Hatch, P. patens, P. graminea, and large and small forms of the taxa with the curved dorsal sepal and deflexed (but short) lateral sepals that Mike Lusk showed us on the Sunrise track at Wakarara in December 2008, (a group is photographed on the outside back cover of J111).

What, then, are Pterostylis subsimilis and P. speciosa?

Both are currently identified with P. patens, but clearly Colenso (who had described P. patens in 1886 thought (in his 86th year) otherwise, and despite the damage done to the type specimen when he dissected the P. subsimilis flower, the sepals are much too short for what we have been calling P. patens.

The type specimen of P. patens (I will discuss that species in more detail later in this series) can be viewed at the same website, but it is a crumbled, moth-eaten and fragmented mess; nonetheless, Colenso's description of P. patens quite clearly describes the lateral sepals "suddenly and completely reflexed below base of perianth, and extending downwards and horizontally beyond base of upper bract (or floral leaf), tapering into stoutish points more than 1 inch long."

That description could not be applied to P. subsimilis, whose lateral sepals "embrace the galea" , nor P. speciosa, whose "long tails" were "erect, largely spreading above and behind dorsal".

In my opinion, P. patens has the long, deflexed lateral sepals as its distinguishing feature (Figs.1, 2). The large, wide and thick leaved form from the Apiti and Sunrise tracks (Fig.3), would fit his "flowers) large... and gaping" and "(leaves) not narrowed at base... thickish", so it may have been a mixed collection he was describing as P. patens.

Or possibly that large taxon is undescribed - though its hard to imagine Colenso did not see it.

P. subsimilis (Fig.4) is in my view the smaller form from the Apiti and Sunrise tracks, rather like the southern species, P. areolata. There are larger plants in the Aorangi range in southern Wairarapa, and above the Powell Hut on Mt Holdsworth. I have in the past referred them to P. australis and P. areolata, but now I am not so certain. Their taxonomic status now needs sorting, but they appear to me to match P. speciosa from the Ruapehu region.

There is more work to be done on these yet.