Journal Number 92
September 2004

EDITORIAL

Is Orthoceras strictum in NZ? & is O. novae-zeelandiae endemic?
By Ian St George

1769-70 Daniel Solander wrote a description of "Ophrys cornuta" from Queen Charlotte Sound [1]. Sydney Parkinson sketched it and FP Nodder engraved it (Fig.1). The floral bracts are short.

1810 Robert Brown formally described Orthoceras strictum from the Grose River area, NSW [2].

1826 Allan Cunningham found what he took to be 0. strictum at Bay of Islands.

1832 Achille Richard described Diuris Novae-Zeelandiae from Queen Charlotte Sound [3]; Lesson painted it (Fig.2) and Eleonore Sophie Rebel engraved it in Paris (Fig.3). The illustrations show a short floral bract; the labellum tip was acute, with inflexed margins.

1837 Allan Cunningham included Orthoceras strictum among the plants he listed from around the Bay of Islands [4], and cited Richard's Diuris Novae-Zeelandiae and Solander's Ophrys cornuta as synonyms.

1840 Lindley described Orthoceras solandri from a Wangaroa specimen collected by Richard Cunningham [5]; he wrote, "That this is distinct from the New Holland species I entertain no doubt; its very short bracts and smaller and narrower flowers sufficiently attest that".

1853 Hooker agreed [6].

1864 Hooker said Cunningham's specimen was not 0. strictum, but wrote of 0. solandri, "bracts large, spathaceous, exceeding the ovary" [7].

1871 Cheeseman included 0. solandri in his list from Titirangi [8].

1873 Bentham wrote, "The NZ plant does not appear to me to differ in the slightest particular" [9]-i.e. from 0. strictum.

1877 RD Fitzgerald illustrated the Australian 0. strictum (Fig.5)[10].

1881 Cheeseman included 0. solandri in his list from Nelson [11].

1886 Colenso described 0. rubrum from Hawke's Bay [12], stating that Richard's Diuris Novae-Zeelandiae "is very distinct from this species". He remarked on differences in colour, its being more slender, and its general appearance. In the description he noted an acute tip to the labellum, and a floral bract that was "broad, sheathing, membranaceous, ovate-acuminate, acute, 9-10 lines long, 3 lines broad, many nerved, not keeled".

1890 Colenso described 0. caput-serpentis from the Moawhango River [13]. It had a "rounded, thickened and slightly concave" labellar tip, and a green floral bract "1 inch long, broadly ovate, ½ inch wide near the base, much and suddenly acuminate, shorter than flower".

1896 Cheeseman included 0. solandri in his list from North Cape [14].

1906 Cheeseman had by now read Bentham and lumped all Orthoceras into 0. strictum. He wrote, "Bracts acuminate, the lower ones usually exceeding the ovary", and labellar "middle lobe... ovate" [15].

1946 RUpp & Hatch listed 0. strictum among orchids common to Australia and New Zealand [16].

1951 Nicholls illustrated the Australian 0. strictum (Fig.6)[17]; he wrote that the erect floral bracts were 2-4cm long, and the labellar tip "truncate"; he included in his watercolour a small green Victorian form with short bracts.

1963 Hatch described 0. strictum forma viride [18]: a robust, earlier flowering green form.

1970 Moore lumped all the NZ taxa into 0. strictum [19].

1989 Clements, Jones & Molloy agreed with Lindley [20]: the NZ plant was different and endemic: they made a new combination, 0.novae-zeelandiae which included 0 caput-serpentis, 0. rubrum, 0. solandri and 0. strictum forma viride. The distribution of 0.strictum was confined to Australia and New Caledonia. They remarked on the possibility of "several undescribed taxa".

The features that distinguish the two are said to be the sharp point to the labellar midlobe, the tall floral bract, and the generally more robust habitus of 0. strictum cf. 0. novae-zeelandiae.

Backhouse & Jeanes reported Nicholls' plants with short floral bracts and rounded labellar tips from Victoria [21 & photograph in their CD]; (you can see a photo from the same site at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~seana/meetings/kangaroobie/creek/ creek.htm). Jones et al published a photograph that looks like 0. novae-zeelandiae from Tasmania [22].

Goodger wrote [J60 p20-2I] that of the 26 slides of Orthoceras in his collection, 24 had pointed labella, and some had long bracts.

		Eric Scanlen photographed a flower with all the appearances of 0. strictum at Te Paki in 2001 (photo left). In issue 78, I wrote about a Wairarapa flower with a similarly long floral bract and pointed labellar midlobe (cover photo this issue) [J78 p30]; the height of the floral bracts decreased from the lowermost flower upwards, as Cheeseman had noted in 1906.

Fig.5 (right): RD Fitzgerald's watercolour of O. strictum (round-tip labellum?)
Fig.6 (left): WH Nicholls's watercolour of O. strictum.
Note the "golden-green flowers from Sassafras, Vic." in the upper right corner (O, novae-zeelandiae?).
 

Conclusions - I think:

1. 0. novae-zeelandiae can have sharp or rounded labellar tips.

2. New Zealand plants with long floral bracts seem always to have sharp labellar tips.

3. The height of the floral bracts (for different flowers on the same stem) is more or less uniformly short for 0. novae-zeelandiae, but often varies in plants with long bracts.

4. 0. novae-zeelandiae (or an undescribed taxon very like it) is present in Victoria and Tasmania.

5. 0. strictum is present in New Zealand; if not, the robust long-bract taxon is unnamed
(0. rubrum and 0. caput-serpentis appear to have short bracts).
 

References
01. Solander D.C. Primitiae Florae Novae Zelandiae sive Catalogus Planarum in Eahei no Mauwe &
      T'avai Poenammoo. Unpublished manuscript. 1769.
02. Brown R. Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. London, J.Johnson et
      Sectos. 1810
03. Richard A. and Lesson A-P. Essai dune Flore de la Nouvelle-Zelande. Paris. 1832.
04. Cunningham A. Florae Insularum Novae Zelandiae Precursor: or a specimen of the Botany of the
      Islands of New Zealand. Published serially in Companion to the Botanical Magazine 2: p367,
      and Annals of Natural History vol 1-4. 1838-9.
05. Lindley J. The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants. London, Ridgeways. 1840.
06. Hooker J.D. Flora Novae Zelandiae 1. Reeve, London, 1853.
07. Hooker J.D. Handbook of the New Zealand Flora. London. 1864.
08. Cheeseman T.F. On the Botany of the Titirangi District of the Province of Auckland.
      Trans.N.Z.I.1871; 4: p279: pp270-84.
09. Bentham G. and Baron F.von Mueller. Flora Australiensis: a Description of the Plants of the
      Australian Territory vol 6. London, L.Reeve & Co 1863-78.
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      Trans.N.Z.L 1886; 18: p256.
11. Cheeseman T.F. Contributions to the Flora of the Nelson Provincial District. TNZI 1881: 320-1.
12. Colenso W. A Description of some Newly-discovered and rare indigenous plants ...Trans.N.Z.1.
      1885; 18: p273.
13. Colenso W. A Description of some Newly-discovered Phaenogamic plants, being a
      Further Contribution.... Trans.N.Z.I. 22: p490.
14. Cheeseman TF. On the flora of the North Cape district. TNZI 1896. 29: 376-7.
15 Cheeseman T.F. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. 1st edition. Wellington, Government Printer. 1906.
16. Rupp H.M.R and Hatch E.D. Relation of the orchid flora of Australia to that of New Zealand, with
      the description of a new monotypic genus for New Zealand. Proc.Linn.Soc.N.S.W. 1946; 70: pp53-61.
17. Nicholls W.H. Orchids ofAustralia Parts I-III. Melbourne, Georgian House. 1951.
18. Hatch E.D. Notes on New Zealand orchids - It. Trans.Roy.Soc.N.Z.1963; Bot 2: pp 185-9.
19. Moore L.B. with illustrations by J.B.Irwin. In Moore L.B and E.Edgar. Flora of New Zealand volume II.
      Wellington, Government Printer. 1970 ppl02-167.
20. Clements MA. Australian orchid research. Catalogue of the Australian Orchidaceae.
      Australian Orchid Foundation and Reed Books, Essendon, 1989.
21. Backhouse G, Jeanes J. The orchids of Victoria. Miegunya Press, Melbourne, 1995.
22. Jones D et al. The orchids of Tasrnania. Miegunya Press, Melbourne, 1999.