Journal Number 98
February 2006

THE COLUMN

Molloybas cryptanthus alba
By Eric Scanlen

Margaret Menzies had been searching for her Molloybas (Corybas) cryptanthus alba, ever more
diligently and with ever more helpers for the 11 years since she first laid eyes on these "shimmering satin white flushed red in their throats" orchids doing "a botanical strip tease act." as she put it, in
Journal 49:15 because all eight there, flowered on top of the moss and leaf mould, not under it,
as their famous, "normal" coloured brethren do.

She especially organised the big field trip of 5-6 Aug 95 for it but "satin white" failed to show, to
Margaret's expertly disguised disappointment. But at that time, she carefully unearthed some
normal ones, pale mushroom coloured with tomato flecks, from the manuka leaf mould and
most of the field party had been ecstatic to spot just these for the first time [J57:21].

In 2005 though, it happened. Three of those "satin whites" that had been dormant these 11 years - why should a rhizome flower and seed if it is perfectly contented feeding off its pet mycorrhizal fungus? - came up 2 or 3m from the previous spot, under a Mingimingi bush (Leucopogon fasciculata). The moss had long since disappeared, so they flowered on top of the thin layer of leaf litter at Omoana.

The Column, of course, had to answer Margaret's call and arrived at Mangamingi on 2 Sept 05,
just in time to hold her horse's bridle for a few hours to calm the nervous animal whilst the delayed helicopter spread fertiliser all around for Duncan and Margaret. Well it is a farming family; what else could one expect?

3 Sept 05 however dawned fine so Duncan brought Roger and Barbara Watkins along to the Waitiri Track, Omoana. Roger needed specimens for his study of electron micrography of definitive orchid stomata which study has promise of tracking species purely from these microscopic breathing holes.

Barbara was furthering her study on skinks and geckos. Garry Penniall and the Column came with Margaret and her sisters Glyn and Claire. What a hard case trio? Why all the mirth about Gloria refusing to stiffen the Column's floppy hat brim with starch?

Down the Waitiri Track, numerous N. iridescens colonies inhabited every damp bank and one colony of short tepals, N. orbiculata showed up along with occasional N. triloba.

Margaret soon steered the field party to the three "satin white" M cryptanthus alba except that the earlier two, entwined together, were already setting seed and No. 3 (photo right) was in an awkward spot where no frontal photos were possible.

However, the red flecking that says "this is no albino freak" is still visible on the in-turned labellum margin.

Notice the petiole standing clear of the pearly white pedicel and the twin fingers on the dorsal sepal, reminiscent of the more elaborate fringe on the labellum margin.

Photo top right is a normally coloured plant from Te Paki for comparison. Note that the upstanding
tepals are petals, much longer than the forward aiming sepals. Nematoceras, on the other hand,
have their longer sepals curling back at the base to stand erect with petals forward and/or to the
side. Note the Corybas style leaf; now lacking chlorophyll, just as a useless bract under the labellum.
It feeds exclusively on fungus, so needs no chlorophyll, also it is self pollinating so why does it bother with a pollinator-attracting flower? One has to wonder.

Margaret had more wonders of the orchid world to show us at this site. There was her celebrated
hybrid with very long sepals from J93:26, (photo below left & middle) between putative parents,
N. triloba agg. plants and N. iridescens. The Column is always sceptical about hybrids but this one was half way between the other two species and indubitably endowed with characters from both.

Gary later happened upon another N triloba taxon (photo below right) which definitely needs more study.

In a gully north of Mangamingi, Margaret had come across, a long tepalled N. iridescens (photo right) where sepals, unable to stand erect due to their 80mm length, crossed and curled gracefully down either side whilst petals typically at 58mm, were perhaps twice the norm.

Curious are the experiments that nature tries in the eternal quest for something more survivable. One has to wonder why long filamentous tepals have been so successful in Nematoceras and the related Molloybas with its tepals normally buried amongst the compost!