Caladenia lyallii
Synonyms
Stegostyla lyallii (Hook.f.) D.L.Jones et M.A.Clem.
Family
Orchidaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Orchids
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CALLYA
Chromosome number
2n = 48
Current conservation status
The threat classification status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO?
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. North, South and Stewart Islands
Habitat
Montane in tussock grassland, subalpine scrub, or in beech (Nothofagus Blume) forest. Also common in montane pine plantations.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
Features
Mostly solitary, terrestrial, hirsute, perennial herb. Plant at flowering up to 200 mm tall. Stem erect, slender and wiry, green to dark reddish-green, pilose hairy near base otherwise glandular-pubescent. Leaf solitary, up to 180 mm long, green, linear-lanceolate, pilose hairy. Floral bracts 1-4, foliaceous, closely sheathing stem, dark green to reddish-green. Flowers 2(-4) in a lax raceme, ovary usually > bract. Perianth up to 40 mm diameter, white (very rarely pink), rarely obscurely sriped with red, externally glandular-pubescent. Sepals elliptic-oblong; dorsal sepal wider and arching over column; lateral sepals wide-spreading, subacute. Petals similar to lateral sepals. Labellum trilobed; mid-lobe narrowly triangular and recurved; lateral lobes broad, transversely barred with red; calli stpitate, clavate to ellipsoid, yellow, in four more or less regular rows on disc, smaller and more cordwed on mid-lobe and its margin. Column curved; wings of uniform width from base to anther, tranversely barred with red.
Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key
Similar taxa
Distinguished from Caladenia atradenia by the usually 2-flowered, rather than solitary, white rather than dark green to reddish green flowers, and by the white labellum with red transverse bars, rather than initially white grading into dark purple-black labellum; and also by the yellow rather than dark purple-black calli.
Flowering
November - December
Flower colours
Red/Pink, White
Fruiting
December - March
Propagation technique
Difficult - should not be removed from the wild.
Etymology
lyallii: Named after David Lyall (1817-1895), 19th century Scottish naturalist and surgeon with the Royal Navy, who explored Antarctica, New Zealand, the Arctic and North America and was a lifelong friend of Sir Joseph Hooker.
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Taxonomic Notes
Jones et al. (2001) erected the genus Stegostyla for what they regarded as a distinct clade of South-eastern Australian, Tasmanian and New Zealand orchids that had usually been referred to as Caladenia. Subsequently Hopper et al. (2004) showed how the reorganisation of Caladenia by Jones et al. (2001) was unworkable and they recommended a return to Caladenia and the other allied Australian genera that had been recognised previously. Following discussion with S. Hopper and P. Weston (pers. comm., 2011, 2014) the treatment of Hopper et al. (2004) is preferred to that of Jones et al. (2001) and so is followed here.
New Zealand populations of Caladenia lyallii are somewhat variable and some orchidologists maintain that the Tasmanian C. alpina is also present in New Zealand. However Hopper et al. (2004) treat that species as a synonym of Caladenia lyallii - this needs further investigation. Irrespective of that view, as currently circumscribed C. lyallii remains extremely variable with respect to flower size and number of calli. Some of these forms have a clear geographic basis and they may warrant formal taxonomic recognition.
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (12 February 2007). Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970).
References and further reading
Hopper, S.D.; Brown, A.P. 2004: Robert Brown’s Caladenia revisited, including a revision of its sister genera Cyanicula, Ericksonella and Pheladenia (Caladeniinae: Orchidaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 17: 1-240.
Jones, D.L.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Clements, M.A. 1997: Three new species and a new combination in Caladenia R.Br. (Orchidaceae) from New Zealand. The Orchadian 12: 221-229.
Jones, D.L.; Clements, M.A.; Sharma, I.K.; Mackenzie, A.M. 2001: A New Classification of Caladenia R.Br. (Orchidaceae). The Orchadian 13: 389-419.
Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. II. Government Printer, Wellington.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Caladenia lyallii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/caladenia-lyallii/ (Date website was queried)