Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/719

Pterostylis.]

1. P. Banksii, ''R. Br. ex A. Cunn. in Bot. Mag.'' t. 3172.—Tall, slender, leafy, grassy, 6–18 in. high. Lower leaves reduced to scarious sheathing scales; cauline numerous, sheathing the whole stem, usually overtopping the flower but often shorter than it, 3–14 in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, narrow linear-lanceolate, acuminate, pale-green. Flower solitary, large, 2–3 in. long including the tails to the lateral sepals, green, often streaked with red or reddish-brown. Galea erect at the base and then curved forwards; upper sepal produced into a long caudate often filiform point; petals also caudate-acuminate or shortly filiform, but always much shorter than the upper sepal. Lower lip with the entire part broadly cuneate, the free lobes gradually narrowed into long filiform erect tails 1–2 in. long. Lip narrow linear-oblong, obtuse, its tip slightly exserted; basal appendage curved, repeatedly divided and penicillate at the tip. Column slender, more than half the length of the galea, upper lobe of wings with an erect subulate tooth at the outer angle; lower lobe narrow-oblong, obtuse.—''A. Cunn. Precur. n. 313; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 248; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 268. P. emarginata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 328. P. patens, Col. l.c. xviii. (1886) 270. P. speciosa, Col. l.c. xxii. (1890) 488. P. auriculata, Col. l.c. 489. P. subsimilis, Col. l.c. xxviii. (1896) 611.

2. P. australis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 248.—Habit of P. Banksii but shorter, 4–10 in. high, rarely more. Leaves shorter and broader, seldom overtopping the flower, ½–¾ in. broad, linearlanceolate, acute or acuminate. Flower small, ¾–1¼ in. long, including the points of the sepals. Galea much as in P. Banksii, but the upper sepal and petals are not produced into filiform points. Lower lip with the free lobes narrowed into short subulate erect points not exceeding the galea in length. Lip and column as in P. Banksii.—P. Banksii var. b. ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 268.