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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
7. Orthoceras, R. Br
7. Orthoceras, R. Br.
Glabrous terrestrial herbs. Boot of 1 or 2 ovoid tubers and numerous fleshy fibres. Leaves few, near the base of the stem, narrow-linear. Flowers rather large, sessile in a lax spike; bracts sheathing, acute. Upper sepal erect, incurved, deeply concave; lateral longer, narrow - linear or almost filiform, terete, erect. Petals short, erect, narrow, flat. Lip affixed to the base of the column, spreading, 3 - lobed; lateral lobes broad; middle lobe large, ovate; disc with a thick callus. Column short, stout, upper part with 2 lateral erect lobes equalling the anther. Anther large, erect or slightly incurved, 2-celled; pollinia powdery.
One species only is known, found in both Australia and New Zealand.
| 1. | O. strictum, R. Br. Prodr. 317.—Stem stout or slender, rigid, erect, wiry, 9–24 in. high. Leaves several near the base of the stem, sheathing. 2–9 in. long, linear or almost filiform, chan-nelled, margins involute; above the leaves there are usually 2 or 3 long sheaths with short erect laminæ. Spike 1–9 in. long, 3–12-flowered; flowers rather lax, green, greenish-purple or brownish-purple; bracts acuminate, the lower ones usually exceeding the page 673ovary. Upper sepal ⅓–½ in. long, when spread out almost orbicular, much incurved, deeply concave; lateral filiform, erect or diverging, ½–1 in. long. Petals thin, notched at the tip. Lip spreading or deflexed; lateral lobes broad, oblique; middle lobe much larger, ovate; disc with a large variously shaped callus.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 310; Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 332; Fitzgerald, Austral. Orch. i. pt. 3. O. Solandri, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. 512; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i 243; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 273. O. rubrum, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 273. O. caput-serpentis, Col. l.c. xxii. (1890) 490. Diuris novas-zealandise, A. Rich. Fl,. Nouv. Zel. 163, t. 25, f. 1.
North Island: Dry hills from the North Cape southwards, not uncommon. South Island: Various localities in the Nelson Provincial District, Bidwill, Kirk! T. F. C. Sea-level to 2500 ft. December–January. |