New Zealand Native Orchids

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Calochilus herbaceus

Copper Beard Orchid

Spirits Bay Road, Te Paki 19 October 2013. Photo: Bill Campbell
Photo: Bill Campbell
Recorded distribution
Recorded distribution

Plant

30-60cm tall. Leaf narrow, fleshy, deeply V-shaped, often glaucous. Stem with several bracts, sometimes leaf-like.

Flowers

Up to 5, greenish yellow with red stripes on lateral petals and widely spaced “eyes” (dark lumps on the column wings). Labellum with a violet base and masses of long red whiskers in the middle, terminated by a tapered, curled bare tip.

Flowering

September-November.

Habitat

Track sides, in gumland scrub and swampy ground.

Conservation

Scattered plants in scattered localities north of Auckland. Threatened - Nationally Critical.

Notes

Endangered in NZ and in Australia.

Key features

Labellum base bare violet, tip bare tapered.

Photos

Spirits Bay Road, Te Paki 19 October 2013. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 10 October 2021. Photo: Bill Campbell
Stratford Drive, Cable Bay 21 November 2011. Photo: Bill Campbell
Stratford Drive, Cable Bay 22 October 2011. Photo: Bill Campbell
Far North. Photo: Kevin Matthews
Stratford Drive, Cable Bay 22 October 2011. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 10 October 2021. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 22 October 2018. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 10 October 2021. Photo: Bill Campbell
Lake Ohia 27 October 2015. Photo: Bill Campbell
Pale form, Spirits Bay Road, Te Paki 2 October 2012. Photo: Bill Campbell
Pale form, Spirits Bay Road, Te Paki 31 October 2020. Photo: Bill Campbell
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