Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/737

Gastrodia.]

1. G. sesamoides, R. Br. Prodr. 330.—Root very long and tuberous. Stem stout or slender, 1–2½ ft. high, mottled grey; sheathing scales loose, truncate or with an obtuse point. Raceme 2–8 in. long, many-flowered; bracts scarious, broadly ovate, shorter than the pedicels. Flowers brownish-white, about ⅔ in. long without the ovary, drooping. Perianth ventricose, gibbous at the base, shortly 5-lobed; lobes short and broad, ovate, constricted at the base. Lip slightly shorter than the perianth; lamina oblong, with 2 thick ridges up the median line, which coalesce into one near the tip, margins much crisped and undulate. Column elongate, almost as long as the lip, angular, narrowly winged above; stigma a large protuberance at the very base.—Hook f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 31, t. 126; ''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vi. 309; ''Fitzgerald, Austral. Orch.'' ii. pt. 5; Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvi. (1894) 272.

2. G. Cunninghamii, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 251.—Habit and appearance of G. sesamoides but usually smaller and more slender, 1–3 ft. high or even more. Stem brownish, often striped and spotted with purple or fawn colour. Raceme 6–10 in. long, very many-flowered, pedicels slender, ⅕–⅓ in.; bracts ovate, acute, scarious. Flowers brownish-white, ½ in. long without the ovary, drooping. Perianth tubular, much swollen at the base, split half-way down on the anterior face, shortly 5-lobed; lobes broad, ovate-deltoid, acute. Lip rather shorter than the perianth; lamina narrow trowel-shaped with 2 papillose ridges running up the middle and uniting near the tip; margins involute, membranous, much crisped and undulate. Column very short, barely ¼ the length of the lip.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl. 263; Petrie. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) t. 20, f. 1–4. G. leucopetala, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xviii. (1886) 268.

3. G. minor, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxv. (1893) 273, t. 20, f. 5–7.—Stem umber-brown, not spotted, very slender, 8–15 in.