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  4. Corybas cheesemanii

Corybas cheesemanii

Eastbourne.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 17/04/2004, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
White form. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 28/06/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Waitakere Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/07/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 23/06/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 29/06/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 07/07/2006, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Seed capsules. Piwhane / Spirits Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 07/11/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Corybas cheesemanii.<br>Photographer: Kevin Matthews, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Flowering colony. Stratford Drive, Cable Bay.<br>Photographer: Bill Campbell, Date taken: 13/07/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Seed capsule on extended scape. Main Ridge Track, Wainuiomata.<br>Photographer: Bill Campbell, Date taken: 07/12/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Dehscied seed capsule. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 17/12/2016, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

helmet orchid, Cheeseman’s spider orchid

Synonyms

Corysanthes cheesemanii Hook.f.

Family

Orchidaceae

Authority

Corybas cheesemanii (Hook.f. ex Kirk) Kuntze

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

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.

CORCHE

Chromosome number

2n = 54+2

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

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 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Endemic. Three Kings, North, South and Chatham Islands.

Habitat

Coastal to montane ( up to 1000 m a.s.l.). Usually found in tall scrub or forest, in dark shaded sites, partially buried in deep, moist, semi-rotted leaf litter, especially under kanuka (Kunzea ericoides, K. robusta, K. serotina and K. triregensis) and Beech (Fuscospora and Lophozonia spp.). Often associated with Corybas cryptanthus.

Features

Diminutive, winter to spring green perennial herb up to 25 mm tall when flowering, up to 220 mm tall when fruiting. Stem, leaves usually, and sometimes also the flowers completely or partially buried within leaf litter. Tubers spheroidal to ovoid, borne on greatly elongated lateral roots up to 200 mm away from current seasons plant. Stem erect buried within leaf mould. Leaf solitary, sessile, 10-20 mm long, pale green to green above, somewhat silvery-green below, orbicular, orbicular-cordate, sometimes leaf reduced to a small green scale. Floral bract smaller than the bright yellow-green ovary, and usually placed well below it. Flower 1(-2), placed directly over leaf. Ovary erect. Perianth 10-14 mm tall. Dorsal sepals helmet-like (galeate), arching completely over labellum, acute, dark pink, purple-grey, maroon, greyish white (mushroom grey) greyish-white flecked with purple, or completely white, fleshy; lateral sepals subulate (needle-like), minute, usually obscured by dorsal sepal, visible only from the front between the spurs. Petals much smaller than sepals, usually not discernible. Labellum cream or white, forming a curved tube, with the anterior margin sharply and abruptly deflexed under the tip of the galea, as a semicircular papillose lobe; the lobe hiding a median pouch; at the base on either side of the labellum a narrow conical spur projects downwards between the petals and sepals. Fruiting capsule up to 20 mm long, cylindrical to ovoid, erect to suberect, borne on a greatly elongated stem.

Similar taxa

When in flower this species could not be confused with any other indigenous orchid. The small leaf, and autumn to winter flowering habit are distinctive features, as is this species penchant for growing in deep drifts of leaf litter, usually in dark, very shaded sites. Fruiting material can be confused with Molloybas cryptanthus with which it often grows. However, Molloybas lacks leaves and chlorophyll, and the narrowly cylindrical capsule is 20-30 mm long, purple-flecked and as it is emerges it is bent toward the peduncle (stem), and often matures in a horizontal, rather than erect position.

Flowering

May - September

Flower colours

Red/Pink, Violet/Purple

Fruiting

November - January

Propagation technique

Difficult - should not be removed from the wild

Etymology

corybas: Helmet flower

cheesemanii: Named after Thomas Frederick Cheeseman (1846 - 15 October 1923) who was a New Zealand botanist and naturalist who, in 1906, produced The Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

TAXONOMIC NOTES

Considerable research is underway to investigate the validity of the segregate genera split from Corybas R.Br. by Jones et al. (2002). Whilst much of that work has yet to be published, on advice from Australian Orchidologists Peter Weston and Stephen Hopper (pers. comm., July 2011, November 2014), all of the segregate genera recognised for New Zealand by Jones et al. (2002) are returned to Corybas (see also Lyons 2014; Lehnebach 2016).

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 April 2007: 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.

Jones, D.L.; Clements, M.A.; Sharma, I.K.; Mackenzie, A.M.; Molloy, B.P.J. 2002: Nomenclatural notes arising from studies into the Tribe Diurideae (Orchidaceae). The Orchadian 13: 437-468.

Lehnebach, C. 2016: New combinations and a replacement name for three New Zealand spider orchids (Corybas). The New Zealand Native Orchid Journal 139. 4-5.

Lyon, S. P. 2014: Molecular systematics, biogeography, and mycorrhizal associations in the Acianthinae (Orchidaceae), with a focus on the genus Corybas. PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. USA.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Corybas cheesemanii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/corybas-cheesemanii/ (Date website was queried)

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