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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
21. Gastrodia, R. Br
21. Gastrodia, R. Br.
Leafless terrestrial brownish herbs. Boot long, tuberous, usually parasitic on the roots of other plants. Stem simple, erect, furnished with lax sheathing scales. Flowers in a terminal raceme. Sepals and petals connate into a ventricose 5-lobed tube more or less slit on the anterior side. Lip shorter than the perianth, attached at the base to the foot of the column, and adnate at the back to the perianth-tube; lamina erect, furnished with longitudinal raised lines or naked, margins undulate. Column long or short, narrowly 2-winged; rostellum small; stigma near the base of the column, prominent. Anther lid-like, incumbent; pollinia free, granular.
A small genus of 8 or 9 species, ranging from New Zealand and Australia northwards to Malaya, the Himalayas, China, and Japan.
page 697
Raceme 2–8 in., many-flowered. Perianth ¾ in. Column elongated, ⅔ the length of the lip 1. G. sesamoides. Raceme 6–12 in., very many flowered. Perianth ½ in. Column very short, barely ¼ the length of the lip 2. G. Cunning-hamii. Stem slender, almost filiform. Eaceme 1–3 in., 3–5-flowered. Perianth ½ in. Column very short, barely ¼ the length of the lip 3. G. minor. G. Hectori, Buch, in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 214, is shown by the specimens in Mr. Buchanan's herbarium to be a Prasophyllum, probably P. patens, R. Br.
| 1. | G. sesamoides, R. Br. Prodr. 330.—Root very long and tuberous. Stem stout or slender, 1–2½ ft. high, mottled grey; sheathing scales loose, truncate or with an obtuse point. Raceme 2–8 in. long, many-flowered; bracts scarious, broadly ovate, shorter than the pedicels. Flowers brownish-white, about ⅔ in. long without the ovary, drooping. Perianth ventricose, gibbous at the base, shortly 5-lobed; lobes short and broad, ovate, constricted at the base. Lip slightly shorter than the perianth; lamina oblong, with 2 thick ridges up the median line, which coalesce into one near the tip, margins much crisped and undulate. Column elongate, almost as long as the lip, angular, narrowly winged above; stigma a large protuberance at the very base.—Hook f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 31, t. 126; Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 309; Fitzgerald, Austral. Orch. ii. pt. 5;. Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvi. (1894) 272.
North Island: Auckland—Kaitaia, R. H. Matthews! Northern Wairoa,. T. F. C.; Great Barrier Island, Kirk! near Auckland, T. F. C.; Ease Oape district, Adams and Petrie! South Island: Westland—Kelly's Greek, Petrie! Sea-level to 1500 ft. December–January. The long slender column at once separates this from the following species, which it otherwise much resembles. In Australia it ranges from Queensland to Tasmania. |
| 2. | G. Cunninghamii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 251.—Habit and appearance of G. sesamoides but usually smaller and more slender, 1–3 ft. high or even more. Stem brownish, often striped and spotted with purple or fawn colour. Raceme 6–10 in. long, very many-flowered, pedicels slender, ⅕–⅓ in.; bracts ovate, acute, scarious. Flowers brownish-white, ½ in. long without the ovary, drooping. Perianth tubular, much swollen at the base, split half-way down on the anterior face, shortly 5-lobed; lobes broad, ovate-deltoid, acute. Lip rather shorter than the perianth; lamina narrow trowel-shaped with 2 papillose ridges running up the middle and uniting near the tip; margins involute, membranous, much crisped and undulate. Column very short, barely f- the length of the lip.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 263; Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) t. 20, f. 1–4. G. leucopetala, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst, xviii. (1886) 268.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Not uncommon in dark shaded places, but easily overlooked, Sea-level to 2000 ft. Perei; Makaika. November–January. The starchy thick and tuberous root was formerly collected by the Maoris and eaten, especially in the Urewera district. |
| 3. | G. minor, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) 273, t. 20,. f. 5–7.—Stem umber-brown, not spotted, very slender, 8–15 in. page 698high, 1/12 in. diam. at the base; sheathing scales few, oblique. Eaceme 1–3 in. long, 3–5-flowered; pedicels slender. ⅕ in. long; bracts short, broad, scarious. Flowers brownish tipped with dirty-white,½ in. long without the ovary, drooping. Perianth ventricose, gibbous at the base, split about half-way down on the anterior side, shortly 5-lobed; lobes rounded-ovate, undulate. Lip hardly shorter than the perianth; lamina linear-oblong, obtuse, with 2 thick median ridges; margins incurved, thickened, slightly crumpled. 'Column very short, barely ¼ the length of the lip.
South Island: Otago—Opihi Creek, near Dunedin, Petrie! January. Dried specimens differ very little in appearance from slender forms of G, Cunninghainii; but according to Mr. Petrie there are important differences in the lip and column. |