Corunastylis pumila
Common name
yellow gumland leek orchid
Synonyms
Prasophyllum pumilum Hook.f.; Genoplesium pumilum (Hook.f.) D.L.Jones & 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.
CORPML
Chromosome number
2n = 44
Current conservation status
The conservation 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). 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.
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: EF, Sp
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: EF
2004 | Sparse
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (from Te Paki south to about Kawhia, East Cape and the Bay of Plenty), Chatham Island.
Habitat
A species which requires open, sparsely vegetated, usually relatively unfertile habitats. Most recent gatherings come from gumland scrub, particularly in sites which have been burned frequently. It is also abundant in those sites kept open through substrate infertility, the frequency of natural disturbances caused by for exampel geothermal activity, or along habitats which are artifically maintained such as track and roadsides. It is very common on Great Barrier Island (its probable stronghold) where it flourishes on the skeletal soils and bare rhyolitic rock left after extensive kauri (Agathis australis (D.Don) Lindl.) logging and repeated burning.
Features
Yellow green, reed-like orchid of open clay pans, gumland scrub and dry cliff and roadside clay banks, up to 450 mm tall. Base of plant clad in persistent, brown, somewhat fibrous sheaths of old scale-leaves; these enclosing current tuber and remnant tubers of past seasons growth. Stem 1-2 mm diameter, yellow-green, erect, very rush/reed-like, leafless almost to inflorescence. leaf solitary, much < raceme, at first braodly involute, tapering, about equal to inflorescence in length, only rarely overtopping it. Inflorescence a raceme of 3-30 closely-spaced flowers. Perianth pale, greenish to greenish-yellow, opening into a short wide bell bent on the ovary so as to face downwards. Dorsal sepal 3 mm long, concave, broadly ovate, acuminate; laterals slightly longer, very shortly connate at base, more or less gibbous, spreading widely above, broad-elliptic, shortly mucronate. Petals shorter, membranous, with longer hair-tip. Labellum about equally long, articulate by a curved claw to the long column-foot; limb broadly oblong, upper surface grooved and more or less covered by 2 longitudinal papillose calli; margin not ciliate. Lateral processes of column about as long as anthers; apices broad and irregularly lacinate, the anterior margin minutely papillose. Anther subsessile, overtopping rostellum, apiculate. Stigma set above column base, of equal or slightly longer length.
Similar taxa
Superficially similar to C. nuda (Hook.f.) D.L. Jones et M.A. Clem. from which it differs by its yellow-green to green (rather than red-green to dark green) stem and leaf; longer leaf, drooping rather than horizontal, open, almost campanulate, pale yellow rather than reddish flowers, and greenish rather than red labellum lacking ciliate margins.
Flowering
February - October
Flower colours
Green, Yellow
Fruiting
March - December
Life cycle
Minute seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult - should not be removed from the wild.
Threats
Corunastylis pumila has a current distribution that is typical of sparse taxa. However, this is unlikely to be completely natural. Much of this species current distribution is undoubtedly human induced and it cannot be denied that this species has undergone a massive range reduction over the last 100 or so years, as the open clay pans and gumland scrub it flourishes in have been reduced to tiny, effectively non-functional units now given over to natural succession to taller vegetation. On consideration of available evidence this species is still declining but perhaps less than it was in the recent past. Nevertheless, C. pumila probably does not warrant Sparse status and it may require a higher listing to more accurately reflect its now greatly reduced range.
Etymology
pumila: Small
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Attribution
Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970)
References and further reading
Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. II. Government Printer, Wellington.
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309