Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/727

Lyperanthus.]

Terrestrial herbs, often black when dry. Stems rather stout. Leaves 1–3, sheathing at the base, broad or narrow. Flowers in a terminal raceme or spike, sometimes solitary; bracts large, sheathing. Upper sepal erect, incurved, broad, concave; lateral narrow, spreading or deflexed. Petals similar to the lateral sepals. Lip shorter than the sepals, with a broad erect claw sometimes dilated into small lateral lobes; lamina or middle lobe ovate or lanceolate, entire; disc with ridges or small calli. Column erect or incurved, not winged; stigma placed under the rostellum. Anther terminal, erect, 2-celled; pollinia 4, narrow, subterete, granular.

1. L. antarcticus, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. ii. 544.—Stems rather stout, 3–8 in. high. Leaves 1–8, sheathing at the base, 1–2½ in. long, the upper smaller, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, rather coriaceous; veins numerous, parallel. Flowers 1–3, greenish, horizontal or nearly so, ⅓–½ in. long; bracts large, cucullate, sheathing, ½–¾ in. long. Upper sepal large, broad, curved over the column, hooded, acute; lateral sepals and petals linear-subulate, acute. Lip with a very short claw; lamina ovate-oblong, obtuse or subacute, margins thick, disc with 5 or 6 slender longitudinal lamellae. Column short, stout, curved.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 270.

Slender terrestrial herbs, usually more or less pilose or villous, rarely glabrous. Root of small rounded tubers terminating fleshy fibres. Leaf solitary from near the base of the stem, linear or lanceolate, more rarely broader and oblong-lanceolate or oblong. Flowers on an erect slender scape, solitary or in few-flowered racemes; bracts small. Upper sepal erect or incurved, narrow, concave; lateral flat, spreading, or rarely all alike and spreading. Petals narrow, erect or spreading. Lip clawed on to the base of the column, undivided or 3-lobed, the lateral lobes when present erect, the middle lobe spreading or reflexed, the margins often toothed or fimbriate, the disc usually studded with linear or clavate sessile or stipitate calli. Column rather long, erect or incurved, more or less 2-winged above; stigma broad, prominent. Anther erect, terminal, 2-celled; pollinia granular.