New Zealand Native Orchids

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Gastrodia molloyi

Potato Orchid

Maungakotukutuku Valley 22 January 2014. Photo: Matt Ward
Photo: Matt Ward
Recorded distribution
Recorded distribution

Plant

To 80 cm with up to 50 flowers.

Flowers

Knobbly, yellow to yellow green, labellum tubular heavily marked greenish brown to almost black. Column long, showing beneath the yellow tipped labellum. Some smell of freesias.

Flowering

December - February.

Habitat

Wide range of disturbed vegetation. Widespread.

Conservation

Not threatened

Notes

Almost a mix of characters of G. cunninghamii and G. sesamoides but yellowish. Distinguished from the former by its long column and the latter by warts on the flower exterior. Often more robust than either. Was tagged G. “long column”.

Key features

Knobbly yellow to greenish flowers and long, yellow-tipped column with pollinia visible at the mouth of the tube.

Photos

Maungakotukutuku Valley 22 January 2014. Photo: Matt Ward
Maungakotukutuku Valley 17 January 2022. Photo: Matt Ward
Maungakotukutuku Valley 17 January 2022. Photo: Matt Ward
Photo: Ian St George
Photo: Ian St George
Barton’s Bush - Hutt Valley. Photo: Eric Scanlen
Barton’s Bush - Hutt Valley. Photo: Eric Scanlen
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