Journal Number 91
June 2004

THE COLUMN

South Island Roundup 2004
By Eric Scanlen

Gloria and the Column took a Gastrodia "holiday" to farthest south Invercargill on a 5,000km odyssey
in Jan/Feb but kept having other strange orchid enigmas thrust upon them, as reported below.

Iwitahi Reserve 9 Jan 2004 was the first stop but, sad to say, Lycopodium, ferns, piripiri and native scrub have taken over two thirds of the needle duff, thrusting back the orchids despite the dedicated volunteer clearing work organised by the Taupo Orchid Society.

The fern excluded all orchids except one Aporostylis bifolia (still in flower) and two Gastrodia minor
but these were struggling in the advancing fern front. This exposed hill top is not as good as the old
reserve near the camp, as the failing and wind-fallen Pinus nigra bore witness. The P. nigra is 20 years
younger than much healthier trees at Hanmer. Some soil deficiency, boron for instance, may explain
this bush sickness according to Mark Moorhouse.

Three Simpliglottis (Chiloglottis) valida which are thriving away from the fern invasion, displayed long stapes with seed capsules well developed, one in each of three widely separated colonies. Hopefully some insect has taken up the pollinating cudgels for this otherwise seedless plant in NZ.

You may gripe . about the piripiri seeds clinging to your socks and hairy legs but have a thought for the chaffinch whose despairing efforts only broke its hold on her downy breast as the Column loomed over to free her.

Oamaru On 1 Dec 2003, Barbara McGann had kindly sent the Column a 50mm tall Hymenochilus (Pterostylis) tanypodus from inland of Palmerston thus dashing his carefully deduced mid-January flowering time. How did this weedy orchid know to flower early because of a forthcoming January drought? So, Journal reports giving times from Nov through to Jan are indeed credible, meaning that this subalpine grassland species may have its flowering triggered perhaps by soil moisture and warmth more than daylight hours. The apparently huge definitive callus (1.25mm tall) standing up at labellum base, is green in this freshly opened flower which lacks the minute denticulation's on petal margins of its close relative H. tristis. DoC's Dave Houston at Macraes Flat 'phoned that the H. tanypodus site was dust dry and barren on 13 Jan so we didn't go.

However, Barbara and John McGann hospitably took us to a cliff-top, yellow eyed penguin nest, to help Thomas weigh an indignant female and remove a tiny, $5,000 GPS/depth recorder from her back. She then returned to her two huge chicks and told her just arrived mate all about it with mutual loud squawking and waving of flippers. Apparently, YEPs swim 16km to a reef daily and catch blue cod in their one small patch. Now where were we?

18 Jan 2004, Bald Hill, in the curiously round-topped Longwood Range, at 804m, just gets into the alpine zone on Latitude 46° 10'. Sid Smithies did much of the roading for the microwave transmitter on his Cat. D7 so knew his way around. On a soggy place by the road were some open Thelymitra cyanea, half open T. pulchella and finished T. formosa.

Across the road were fresh Pterostylis australis x banksii, (Photo below left) so late!, small with a short
sagging dorsal sepal tip, short broad leaves, stigma wider than the column and dark brown labellum
ridge, all said P. australis. But long, widespread lateral sepals and column taller than the labellum said
P. banksii.

Sid and Kelly Rennell led the Column higher up to Waireia stenopetala in the tussock with both short and long floral bracts (Photo 2 below). But notice, "long bract" has an immature, short ovary whilst "short bract" has mature long ovaries. The bracts are both in fact 1½ times the flower length.[See J83:28 for Campbell Is. and J60:20 for Auckland Is. specimens. Both have genuinely short bracts, barely longer than the flowers].

Prasophyllum colensoi leaned into Drosera stenopetala (Photo 3 below) and nearby, in beech, a huge patch of Sid's Nematoceras "tribaldy" (Photo below right) with many still in flower, could not be negotiated without stepping on plants. It is close to N. "Trotters" in size, leaf shape and flower positioning but the late flowering, tight growth habit, broader flower, hairy within, little notch mid-labellum and maroon instead of near-black, says we should probably keep it separate. Some DNA comparisons would be welcome.

Next Townsonia deflexa in seed just inside the beech tree-line, growing in unbelievably thick moss cushions. Bald Hill is a great orchid spot with much more to offer, earlier in the season, if one has a key and endless patience to get at the steel encased deadlock padlock to open the armoured gate.

Driving back from Otautau to Invercargill, was not helped by the dazzling sun low in the sky over Stewart Island at 9.25pm, would you believe? At 6° 46' west of Auckland, an extra 27 minutes of daylight saving already applies.

Pterostylis australis x banksii	Waireia stenopetala	Prasophyllum colensoi leaned into Drosera stenopetala	Nematoceras "tribaldy"

Bluff Hill in Stewart Island's ER 79, had a larger Pterostylis australis x banksii still flowering on track-side on 19 Jan. at about 100m so its lateness is not due to high altitude. Its banksii characters, the reddish labellum ridge and long, wide-spread lateral sepals had us bluffed (get it?) for a while but the short broad leaves said australis. Kelly's photos of earlier specimens [J90:32 in B&W] show notable pale cerise sepals.

Lake Hauroko, Fiordland, 20 Jan 2004. NZ's deepest lake, surrounded by beech forest and ethereal scenery, is an unforgettable experience. The sand-flies are worse at storied Lake Mahinapua but not much. It was an education finding Petalochilus minor (alias Caladenia chlorostyla) all just finished but recognisable (there are photos) and red stemmed P. aff. chlorostylus in seed but with the definitive green wedges or gores up the red ovary. It flowered earlier than P. nothofageti (Photo right) Kelly found in the same patch in fresh flower! So it isn't just an alba form of P. aff. chlorostylus as had been rumoured. Two of the four P. nothofageti shot by the Column, had 3 pale pink bars inside the labellum; that's new.

One is loath to cast aspersions on digital cameras but their lower exposure latitude than even transparency film, could explain why Kelly's otherwise excellent shot [J90:26] showed no pink bars.

Winika here in Fiordland were uncommon but two colonies we saw had dense masses of flower compared with the sparse showing on northern forms.

The solitary and spotted seed capsule of a Drymoanthus flavus (Photo right) from 4m up a silver beech on the beach took a combined effort to capture on film. The Column, atop a tall stump, teetered on tip-toe with camera in one hand and flash in the other, whilst Kelly held up a mirror in a long cleft stake to soften the flash shadows. The hardships we field investigators go through, dear reader, just to satisfy your viewing curiosity!

Also on the beach were two unusual trees 7 to 8dm DBH (diameter breast height) in a colony of several smaller ones. Hutu (Ascarina lucida) according to the book, going by leaves, bark and seed pods. Flora 1 declares the species to have a ". . trunk up to 3dm. diam." This is not Texas, but at Lake Hauroko they grow them bigger!

South Arm Manapouri 21 Jan 2004 The HT access road is now open to the public. An all terrain vehicle is not mandatory but it helps so Sid insisted on taking his and Kelly volunteered for the kiddie seat at the back. One soon gets used to the twin rows of pylons striding across spectacular ridges, carrying power to Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.

Patches of the invasive Hieracium pilosella here and there had been browsed flat by hares; ideal habitat
for Hymenochilus tanypodus but none could be found here or at Bald Hill or later at either Lindis Pass
or Lake Lyndon in similar habitat. Too late this season it seems.

Not too late for Aporostylis bifolia though. The Borland South Arm taxon has the calli on labellum base like two discontinuous yellow ridges. Only three brown spots per labellum on very small yellow patches. One great cushion of unidentified, dark green Celmisia held another colony of the Pterostylis australis x banksii, (Photo right) still in fresh flower sporting those short broad leaves, droopy short dorsal sepal but widely spread, long lateral sepals.

Down at the Lake, the fish in the Grebe River were not biting so Sid joined Kelly and the Column
photographing fresh flowers on Petalochilus aff. chlorostylus just off the beach in beech.
No sign here of prime targets, Gastrodia "long column" or G. "shauroko".

Homeward bound, just east of Borland Lodge, Sid stopped at a small Sphagnum bog where Waireia stenopetala abounded and Pterostylis australis were also in fresh flower. All these January flowering greenhoods were an unexpected bonus for the Column. The P. australis had very touchy labella which triggered at the least vibration but attempt three succeeded despite unavoidable vibrations during weed clearance. The sectioned flower shows why. It just happened to have an unfortunate fungus gnat (Photo right) trapped between the column wings, the labellum had reset and must have been at the unresponsive stage.

The 2.4mm long blob of pollinia above the fly is untouched so the pollinia remnant glued to its back, came from another flower didn't it? Some of that pollen is smeared on the stigma showing that the fly had done its unwitting duty by crawling up between the column arms, its only escape route once the labellum had triggered. The plant had "shot the messenger" and didn't care.

Greymouth 30 Jan 2004. After an orchidless sight-seeing trip through dry heart, Alexandra, Wanaka, Lindis Pass and Lake Lyndon, Gloria and the Column stopped at Greymouth-in-the-mist. Gordon Sylvester joined us to case the great little orchid spot (GLOS) to the side of the HT track.

The hypochromic Singularybas (Corybas) oblongus [J87:8 Fig. 14] in several colonies beside some
15m of mountain bike track, was in copious seed; so it is not a sterile mutant. Gordon has compiled
an extensive Pterostylis dossier and was impressed with the four different leaf styles thereabouts of
Pterostylis spp. all in capsule and a large colony of round leaved Nematoceras (Corybas) macrantha
or rivularis agg. with critically sparse seed capsules.

Acknowledgements
Gloria and the Column had an unforgettable month touring from Papakura to Invercargill and back.
It was made memorable and inspiring only because of the unstinting hospitality and guidance of Arnold and Ruth Dench, Ian St George and Kristy Mc Donald, Albert and Judy Brooks, Barbara and John McGann, Kelly and Alison Rennell, Sid Smithies, Graham and Jan Dickson, Gordon and Cherry Sylvester, Mark, Caryl and Kendyll Moorhouse in that order. Many thanks for your efforts.

Reference
1. Moore, LB &Edgar, E, Flora of New Zealand Vol. II, 1970