Journal Number 94
February 2005

NOTES etc

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen, and thinking what nobody
  has thought" - Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi 1893-1986 .
 

Neil Fitzgerald wrote, "I noticed on the NZ Orchids web site that Drymoanthus flavus is listed
as chronically threatened and as such DOC or someone behind the website should be notified
of sightings. I knew it was uncommon but didn't realise it was classed as being so rare.

While working at Whirinaki (ER 5) a couple of years ago I found a few plants which I believe are
D. flavus … growing on kamahi 2-3 m above ground…. I also notice this is outside the range indicated in your books".

See Neil's photograph, page 2 - quite the best shot of this species I have seen - but why
the camouflage? did moa find them palatable? - Ed

The two Nematoceras images herewith came from Whakapunake, which is a 900m high
limestone peak 40 km eastsoutheast of Gisborne.

The specimens were collected by Shannel Courtney on 15 September 2004, and the photos
were sent by Andrew Townsend. This extends the range of both orchids.

We rarely hear of orchids in the Gisborne / East Coast region: who knows what else may be there?

                     
N orbiculatus                                   N iridescens

Phil Tomlinson emailed (10 October), "I am writing in response to your comment 'What's in a name?' in Journal 92.

Changing nomenclature is an issue that has been around since formal naming started, but certainly for us has been much more prevalent recently. We need some standardisation of naming, but with modern techniques many older concepts will now often be found to be inappropriate. We all get used to using a certain name for plants, and to have it change, especially when there are many changes, gives rise to confusion and uncertainty.

I was editor of a local nationally recognised orchid Journal for 10 years, and editor of the national orchid magazine, Orchids in NZ, for seven. During that period a number of name changes for commonly cultivated orchids occurred, and many of the opinions currently being expressed were also voiced then.

Taxonomy must be based on a scientific approach, but still involves a significant measure of judgement. We have all read of the 'splitters' and 'lumpers' and this variance in approach underlies much of the doubt regarding changes. There have been occasions when name revisions have been proposed by certain workers, only to have these reversed some time later when other taxonomists rejected the proposals.

"With this in mind I adopted the following approach during many years as editor.

1. When a name change was proposed, I would first look at the reputation of the person making
the suggested change. If the proposal appeared to have authority, I would note this, but would
not actually make the change in published material (although I would include a note that there
was a proposal for a name change) at that stage.

2. I would watch the relevant literature to see if the proposed name change was accepted by at least one or preferably two or more other authorities from different organisations (and from different countries). If several recognised authorities accepted the name change proposal and there were no significant dissenting opinions, then I would adopt the change. This was a conservative approach, but did give time for the change to be fully considered, and not only by the experts! This approach generally appeared to work, and is an approach I would still follow.

"For an editor it is a difficult issue, and I would not criticise anyone for taking a different approach.
I do, however, make these comments in response to the request for them, in the hope that it may assist in setting an approach for this thorny problem in the future. We can rest assured that we have not seen the last of changes amongst our favorite plants. The Journal sets a fantastic standard, and with Michael Pratt's comprehensive web site (http://www.nativeorchids.co.nz/) we are very well served for information in this country.

(http://www.albanygateway.com.au/town/albany/wildflowers/default.asp?sw=1004&):

When we come across a terrestrial orchid beside a track, our natural reaction is to kneel down, steady it with our hand and have a closer look. But ... STOP!

According to David Jones at the National Herbarium in Canberra, and other orchidologists, research has shown that those orchids which have been handled by humans are more likely to be eaten by native animals. Obviously, some animals have very keen noses and delicate appetites and unknowingly, we are leaving our scent behind! I have learnt the hard way, of course.

Recently I examined an area containing many flowering Midge Orchids, and decided I needed to return the next day to take more photos. Where there had been approximately 20 0rchids in flower, all I found were 19 flowerless stems. One had survived because it was in the middle of a prickly shrub. I now hold a small twig in my hand and use it to steady terrestrial orchids when I want to admire or examine them more closely.

Perhaps by not touching flowering orchids we may help to prevent the loss of a full season's seed dispersal." Reprinted from the ASGAP Indigenous Orchid Study Group, Newsletter, September 2003.

A magic moment, Les Nesbitt wrote in NOSSA's Journal [2004; 28 (10): 101]:

"The 22 October is a warm spring day in the Adelaide Hills and the sun orchids have opened
beautifully. Calochilus robertsonii is flowering on a temporary bench outside - but in the shade
of my shadehouse. I am standing in the shade resting from my exertions on the shadehouse
extension to house some recently rescued plants that include the bearded orchid. Along comes
a large black wasp with a yellow head. After some buzzing around, the wasp alights on a
C. robertsonii flower and pushes its head deep into the flower.

I move closer and observe that the yellow head is actually pollen stuck to the front of the insect's head just below its eyes. The wasp stays in the flower for 30 seconds trying to mate with the hairy labellum. It takes no notice of me standing less than a metre away.

The wasp is totally black except for a yellow dot on each side of its abdomen. It is large, about 20mm long (the same length as the labellum), with rather narrow wings when resting. It has two long black antennae held with an included angle of about 90 degrees. While I watch spellbound, it visits 2 more flowers before flying away. Then I realise that the moment has passed and I may never see such a sight again."

Seen by your editor on a walk near Rarangi Beach, Marlborough, 14 November with Phil Norton and others. In bud: Gastrodia sp. In flower: Caladenia variegata, chlorostyla, bartlettii, Pterostylis banksii, foliata, graminea, irsoniana, Thelymitra longifolia, aff pauciflora, intermedia, Nematoceras macrantha, Microtis unifolia. In seed: Pterostylis trullifolia, Cyrtostylis reniformis, Acianthus sinclairii, Corybas cheesemanii.

7 November Pat Enright, Olaf John and I were in the limestone bluffs of the lower reaches of the Ruakokopatuna in the southern Wairarapa; under the beech were plentiful Caladenia variegata, easily the largest of the Petalochilus forms of Caladenia in NZ: these were 22mm from petal tip to tip (see photos).

Also present were Nematoceras macrantha, Pterostylis banksii and P foliata in flower, and N. triloba with long, dehisced seed capsule.

Michael Pratt wrote "I photographed this Caladenia on Rainbow Mountain last Thursday 4 November.

It's a very dainty orchid, the flower is no more than 1cm across, and the whole plant measured only 8-10cm in height with a stem of about 1mm in width. There was a colony of about 8 plants. I'm wondering if it may be C. alata (which I haven't seen before), although it seems to lack the 2 large marginal calli on the labellar midlobe. Otherwise the illustration of C. alata in the Field guide matches it perfectly."

"…Also had a look at the Calochilus aff. herbaceus site at Albany, Auckland on Wednesday. The original site where I found them back in 1992 has become a bit overgrown with Manuka and I couldn't locate any there. However, there was a new group of 4 flowering plants (mostly in bud) beside the track approximately 20 metres from the original site, so they are obviously still spreading by seed."

That is C. alata in my book - I am not persuaded that small differences in the number of calli on
the edge of the labellar midlobe are especially important diagnostically. Good news about the
Calochilus. Both of these finds represent the southernmost records of the two species - Ed.

A serious infestation of thrips destroyed millions of native orchid and lily flowers over thousands of square km of bush in South Australia in October 2004, according to NOSSAJ,

... not only have weeds, rabbits, stock, land clearance, erosion, loss of pollinators etc caused destruction of so many orchids recently but now they have a new and potentially final blow... minute flower thrips in plague proportion... in some areas from the west coast to the Southeast hardly an intact flower could be found.

Montgomery Wild of Melbourne took this photograph of an artificial hybrid created by Dick Thomson between Pterostylis banksii and P. irsoniana.

Gordon Sylvester wrote (29 Dec 04) about his Kumara Specials: "An interesting couple of weeks orchidwise. Spent a day with Phil Knightbridge surveying some Pterostylis cernua and looking at a possible relocation scenario for the type locality which is about to be drastically altered. A couple of ideas were floated and may well be adopted. One was to relocate a small population elsewhere until after all roadworks were completed then relocate them back. But looking at the overall picture this may not be needed".

"Looking about the estate over the last couple of days has revealed some new records for the coast. On Leicester Kyle's property at Millerton he has what has been identified by Brian Molloy as Corybas papa. Leicester said it was collected from the Karamea Bluffs area from a papa cliff face. We need to confirm this as soon as possible".

"With Phil Knightbridge on S.H. 73 at Stoney Creek we noted Prasophyllum colensoi in flower growing on the roadside batter, while on the roadside closer to Kumara there was Pterostylis montana agg. and P. irsoniana intermixed in the grass both in flower together. Across the road was of course P. cernua. At another location we noted Aporostylis bifolia in flower and bud, and also Thelymitra aff pauciflora in bud".

"On 26 Dec. I noted a Caladenia on my property pale green and in the same area a red stemmed Caladenia. I photographed them on location. The other side of the property disclosed Microtis aff unifolia with the distinctive rolled labellum edge, in full flower: 8-9 plants".

"I was looking in another part of the scrub for more Caladenia and noted several Pterostylis showing signs of being fertilised. A return a little later to mark the site for next season located some plants still in flower".

"A comparison with P. cernua quickly showed a different species. On dissecting the flower my little friend P. 'peninsula' was quickly disclosed, a major extension to its range; interestingly a change of soil type also noted; several photos were taken for reference purposes".

"New records for E.R. 50: P. 'peninsula', Caladenia minor, Caladenia nothofageti; not too bad for a couple of hours' casual looking about".

"As for the mapping scheme, data entry into the database is proceeding slowly and extraction of records from the journal is also proceeding. I have received lists from a couple of members for inclusion in the records. One list has created several new records also. I'm still looking for more information."

The Australasian Native Orchid Society's Warringah Group Bulletin November 2004 carried this image … yet according to most authorities, it is C. formicifera that carries the labellar calli to the tip of the labellum.

The calli of C. trapeziformis are, in contrast, restricted to the disc of the labellum. This is important
in the identification of Chiloglottis vagrants found in northern NZ in the past - were they
C. formicifera or C. trapeziformis?

Letter to the editor: Who wants our esteemed NZNO Journal to concentrate on foreign orchids? Residing under Editorial 3, Corybas variations, in Journal 93, is one side of a debate with "one member" or "critic", Omoc for short, who is said to have taken the Editor "severely to task for publishing too much stuff on foreign orchids."

Omoc, in injured reply, admits to mildly chiding the Editor for over supplying our few colour pages with unrelated foreign orchids whilst some members' cherished shots of new and unusual New Zealand orchids get reduced to miniscule size or printed in B&W.

However, an honorary Editor does have the inalienable right to edit incoming copy as he sees fit, especially when members' contributions often fall perilously low. Members wishing to see more on NZ orchids in the Journal, please set an example and send in your own contributions, the life blood as it were of the Journal, no matter how modest or elaborate it may be. Stories of your own finds are bound to rouse interest, or better still, controversy, in dedicated Journal readers who are thirsting for inspiration, innovation or enlightenment on NZ native orchids. Then the Editor need not step outside the wishes of members with his hard-won fillers of foreign orchids.

We all, I feel sure, applaud the Editor for his continual quest from foreign correspondents for
appropriate copy to fill the void but, if one leafs through back copies starting with Newsletter 2,
Dot Cooper's summary of 80 new member's wishes included only NZ orchids.

Issue 10 p1 with notes from Rhode Island, Western Australia and Tasmania did patronisingly suggest furthering an interest in WA orchids but the emphasis in all other articles on NZNOG aims, has been on native orchids exclusively. Journal 37 has 4 pages of readers' suggestions; none on foreign orchids, none either in the J63:19, further suggestions. The J82:2 summary of members opinions had the foreign orchid articles trailing the field. NZNOG Objects in the J88:2 Rules were all dedicated to NZ orchids but, where is the Editor to get suitable copy if members abstain? Do get those word processors clacking and in particular, get your close-up digi cameras and drawing pencils to work to stimulate further interest.

Omoc, who must remain anonymous, sees sense in keeping pace with related genera from territory to the west and north because these are tied closely to our own orchid genealogy. Some of these foreign species show up occasionally and tantalisingly on our own shores, perhaps drifting in on the jet stream from Australia so it pays to have texts on hand if and when these happenings occur. Then put them in the Journal.

However, issue must be taken with that "bee orchid" example of the Editor's. It does accent some English taxonomist's practice of ascribing varietal status to similar taxa. Varieties are a writer's unnecessary pain because of the lengthy titles thus bestowed, such as Ophrys apifera var. friburgensis. If one includes the necessary citations, these treble banger titles become a positive tedium. Preferable is the recent Australasian convention of using binomial titles such as Anzybas carsei (was Corybas carsei) which does give us pause on how behind-the-times other countries can be.

The Editor's sentiments, re members writing in with pics of their valued finds (J93:8), are echoed by Omoc as above provided sufficient detail of habitat, flowering time etc are included. The Editor himself started the "NZ scramble to find a new Corybas on every 'high ridge and peak'" in J54:9 but rather more than bare pictures by email, are important if new taxa are to be established otherwise disappointment can be expected as a few dedicated souls have found. Shots from several angles with dimensions and details of column and other inner details always help. Fairly widespread taxa with distinctive and fairly constant characters will get priority attention. There seem still to be plenty out there! Specimen taking, strictly with permission, is still preferable to pictures alone. Send them to obliging people with drafting and descriptive skills. The Editor will of course be only too pleased to print such submissions and may thus be able to limit his need to print more "stuff on foreign orchids".

 - The Editor regards material on "alien orchids" in a positive light, not simply as space fillers, but to illustrate issues, relevant to NZ orchidology, that have not been aired by local writers.