Nematoceras hypogaeum
Spider Orchid

PLANT: Terrestrial tuberous herb.
1 to 4cm high when in flower. Leaf and flower often buried within the leaf litter.

LEAVES: Single 3-lobed leaf. Reniform to orbicular. Much wider than long. Underside silver to purple silver.

FLOWER: Solitary. Flower on a short stem below the leaf. 1 - 1.5cm high and often hidden beneath the leaf litter or moss. Lateral sepals to 30mm long. Labellum a pale translucent green with red towards the margins and in the throat. Edge of labellum rounded with jagged and incurved margins.

FLOWERING TIME: August - September.

HABITAT: Leaf litter beneath Manuka, Kanuka, and Beech trees.
Also recorded from swampy areas.

CONSERVATION STATUS: Not threatened. Locally common.

NOTES: Distinguished from other species in the Nematoceras trilobum aggregate by the jagged and incurved margins to the labellum.