New Zealand Native Orchids

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Gastrodia sesamoides

Potato Orchid; Perei

Shenstone Block, Te Paki 14 December 2012. Photo: Bill Campbell
Photo: Bill Campbell
Recorded distribution
Recorded distribution

Plant

To over 1m tall, dappled brown or greenish with many, pendant flowers, usually smooth, but sometimes with a few tubercles.

Flowers

White to mustard, column as long as tube.

Flowering

October - December.

Habitat

Wide range of scrubby or dry vegetation including pine plantations and bark in traffic islands. Lowland to montane. South to Nelson.

Conservation

Local.

Notes

Distinguished from other species except G. minor by the lack of warts on the exterior of the flower, the long column and, sometimes, more highly coloured flowers.

Key features

Flowers smooth with few warts, yellow tipped column and pollina visible at the tube mouth.

Photos

Shenstone Block, Te Paki 14 December 2012. Photo: Bill Campbell
Shenstone Block, Te Paki 10 December 2011. Photo: Bill Campbell
Shenstone Block, Te Paki 14 December 2012. Photo: Bill Campbell
Shenstone Block, Te Paki 10 December 2013. Photo: Bill Campbell
Photo: Ian St George
Photo: Ian St George
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