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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

4. Sarcochilus, R. Br

4. Sarcochilus, R. Br.

Epiphytes. Stems short, rarely long; pseudobulbs wanting. Leaves distichous, flat, oblong or linear, coriaceous or fleshy. Flowers racemose or spicate; peduncles lateral. Sepals spreading, almost equal, free; the lateral ones often broader at the base and adnate to the produced foot of the column. Petals similar to the sepals or narrower. Lip attached to the base of the column, usually 3-lobed; lateral lobes small or large, fleshy or petaloid; middle lobe often greatly reduced; disc usually with callosities. Column erect, semiterete, not winged, produced at the base. Anther terminal, lid-like, 2-celled; pollinia 2, or 4 more or less connate in pairs, waxy, attached by a strap-shaped caudicle to the rostellum. Capsule linear or linear-oblong.

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A genus of about 30 species, most of them from India, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia; a few from the Pacific islands, and one from New Zealand.

1.

S. adversus, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 241.—Roots numerous, long, wiry, terete. Stems short, 1–3 in. long, concealed by the imbricated sheathing bases of the leaves. Leaves few, distichous, spreading, l-2½ in. long, ⅓–¾ in. broad, linear-oblong to elliptic-oblong, obtuse or subacute, jointed above the sheathing base, thick and coriaceous, dark-green, often spotted with purple. Peduncles 1–4 from the axils of the lower leaves, slender, strict, 1–2½ in. long, 5–15-flowered; pedicels slender, erect; bracts small, broadly ovate. Flowers small, ⅛–⅙ in. diarn, green spotted with purple. Sepals oblong-ovate, obtuse. Petals similar but slightly narrower. Lip as broad as long, obscurely 3-lobed, very concave, with a fleshy gland on each side; tip obtuse, somewhat hooded. Column very short, stout. Capsule linear-oblong, ½–⅔ in. long.—Handb. N.Z. FL 263. S. breviscapa, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 332.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Lowland districts from the North Cape southwards, not common. October–November.