Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/711

Thelymitra.] bracts 2 or 3, sheathing. Flowers 3–8 in a raceme from 2 in. to 6 in. long, large, handsome, blue-purple, ¾–1 in. diam. Sepals, petals, and lip broadly oblong or obovate, obtuse. Column less than half as long as the perianth, the wing continued behind the anther but much shorter than it, 3-lobed; middle lobe short and broad, emarginate or truncate; lateral lobes much longer than the middle lobe and almost equalling the anther, erect, lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely toothed. Anther broad, connective produced into a stout horn-like point.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 271.

6. T. imberbis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 244.—Stem slender, wiry, often flexuous, 4–12 in. high. Leaf much shorter than the stem, narrow-linear, flexuous, thick and fleshy, grooved in front. Flowers 1–3, rarely more, short and broad, cup-shaped, ½ in. diam., flesh-coloured. Sepals and petals ⅓ in. long, broadly oblong or obovate-oblong, obtuse or apiculate. Column less than half as long as the perianth; the wing continued behind the anther but shorter than it, 3-lobed; middle lobe broad, truncate or obscurely 2-lobed, minutely warted on the back, margin thick, entire; lateral lobes longer, pointing forwards and upwards, triangular, acute, irregularly denticulate, without cilia. Anther large, connective produced into a blunt point much exceeding the column-wing.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 271.

7. T. venosa, R. Br. Prodr. 314.—Stem stout or slender, 9–18 in. high or more. Leaf shorter than the stem, narrow-linear, thick, channelled. Flowers 3–6, large, handsome, purplish-blue, 1 in. diam. Sepals and petals ½ in. long, oblong or elliptic-oblong, obtuse or minutely apiculate, conspicuously veined; lip obovate, obtuse. Column short, stout, not half the length of the perianth; wing not continued behind the anther but with 2 erect lateral lobes which exceed the anther, lobes narrow-triangular, 1–2-toothed near the tip, which is usually twisted inwards. Anther rather short, ovate, connective narrowed into a short bifid beak not so long as the lateral lobes.—''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vi. 323. Epiblema grandiflorum, ''Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 357 (not of B. Br.)''.