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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

3. Earina, Lindl

3. Earina, Lindl.

Epiphytes. Stems tufted, simple, compressed; pseudobulbs wanting. Leaves distichous, alternate, narrow-linear. Flowers rather small, in terminal simple or branched bracteate racemiform panicles. Sepals about equal, spreading, free. Petals similar to the sepals. Lip affixed to the base of the column or its slightly produced foot, 3-lobed; lateral lobes small or large; middle lobe broad, entire or emarginate or 2-lobed. Column short, stout, sometimes produced at the base. Anther terminal, lid-like, 2-celled; pollinia 4, waxy, aggregated in pairs in each cell, free or cohering at the base by a short viscid appendage. Capsule oblong.

Besides the two species found in New Zealand, which are endemic, there are four others from the Pacific islands.

Slender. Panicles slender; flowers remote. Lip deeply 3-lobed; disc eglandular 1. E. mucronata.
Stout. Panicles stiff; flowers close. Lip very obscurely 3-lobed; disc with 2 ridges 2. E. suaveolens.
1.

E. mucronata, Lindl. in Bot. Beg. sub. t. 1699.—Rhizome creeping. Stems numerous, 1–3 ft. long, slender, simple, pendulous or rarely erect, smooth, compressed and 2-edged, spotted. Leaves 3–6 in. long, ⅙–⅕ in. broad, narrow-linear, acuminate, flat, smooth, thin but coriaceous, very finely striate. Panicle terminal, slender, sparingly branched, 2–5 in. long, many-flowered; bracts clasping, striate. Flowers rather distant, sessile, ¼ in. diam. Sepals and petals linear-oblong, spreading, obtuse, pale-yellow. Lip darker yellow with a brownish-orange spot at the base, deeply 3-lobed; middle lobe broader than long, again divaricately 2-lobed; disc eglandular. Column short, stout. Pollinia attached at the base to a short caudicle. Capsule oblong, ¼ in. long.—A. Cunn. Precur. page 666n. 315; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 431; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 239; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 262. E. quadrilobata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 325.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Not uncommon in lowland districts throughout. Sea-level to 2000 ft. October–December.

2.

E. suaveolens, Lindl. Bot. Reg. (1843) Misc. 61.—Stems stout, erect or pendulous, slightly compressed, 6–18 in. high. Leaves 2–4 in. long, ⅓–½ in. broad, narrow-linear or narrow linear-lanceolate, acute, rigid, coriaceous, striate, midrib evident. Panicle terminal, stiff, 2–4 in. long, many-flowered; branches numerous, close-set; bracts sheathing, striate. Flowers sessile, much, closer together than in E. mucronata, ¼–⅓ in. diam., waxy-white with a yellow centre, very fragrant. Sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse. Petals rather broader, obovate, narrowed at the base. Lip erect at the base and then bent outwards, broad, concave, very obscurely 3-lobed, disc with 2 crescent-shaped glands towards the base, margins undulate. Column short, stout. Pollinia pyriform, attached to a short caudicle at the base.—E. autumnalis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 239; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 262. E. alba, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 267. Epidendrum autumnale, Forst. Prodr. n. 319. Cymbidium autumnale, Swartz in Nov. Act. Upsal. vi. (1799) 72; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 169.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon in lowland forests from the North Cape southwards. Sea-level to 2000 ft. March–June.

A handsome species, easily distinguished from E. mucronata by the shorter and stouter habit, more rigid leaves, denser panicles, waxy-white flowers, and almost entire lip, which has two raised ridges near the base. Mr. Colenso apparently published his E. alba under the supposition that E. suaveolens has no glands on the lip, but they are always present. Some notes on the fertilisation are given by Mr. G. M. Thomson in the Trans. N.Z. Inst. xi. 418.