Thelymitra aff ixioides
Dotted Sun Orchid

PLANT: Terrestrial tuberous herb.
Up to 50cm high when in flower.

LEAVES: Single leaf. Wide, fleshy, deeply channelled.

FLOWERS: 1 to 5 or more flowers. 1 - 1.5cm across. Blue with darker blue spots on the petals and dorsal sepal. Column white to pale mauve. Top of column magenta, shading to orange-magenta at the tip. Column arms with thin tufts of brush-like white or mauve cilia. Only opens 1 or 2 flowers at a time on warm sunny mornings, especially after rain.

FLOWERING TIME: October - December.

HABITAT: Well lit scrub or forest tracks, pakihi, roadsides in kauri forest. Mostly lowland, but can also extend into montane zones.

CONSERVATION STATUS: At Risk - Naturally Uncommon.

NOTES: Differs structurally from the Australian Thelymitra ixioides, and the New Zealand plants are self pollinated as opposed to insect pollinated.