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  4. Thelymitra carnea

Thelymitra carnea

Te Paki, Northland.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 25/09/2014, 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>
Seeding plant, Little Bay, Coromandel.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Thelymitra carnea in flower, Lake Rotokawau, Karikari Peninsula, October 1990.<br>Photographer: Gillian M. Crowcroft, Licence: All rights reserved.
Close up of flower, Lake Ohia.<br>Photographer: Eric Scanlen, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Waitakere Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/10/2007, 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>
Old capsules, flower bud and spent flowers. Waitakere Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 22/10/2007, 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>
Kauaeranga Valley.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 31/10/2007, 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>
Te Paki, Northland.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 25/09/2014, 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>
Ahipara Gum Fields, Far North.<br>Photographer: Kevin Matthews, 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

pink sun orchid, early sun orchid

Synonyms

Thelymitra carnea var. imberbis (Hook.f.) Rupp et Hatch, Thelymitra imberbis Hook.f.

Family

Orchidaceae

Authority

Thelymitra carnea Cheeseman

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.

THECAR

Chromosome number

2n = 62

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

Indigenous. North and South Islands. Mainly in the northern North Island south to about Taupo. Local around the southern North Island. Apparnetly absent in between. In the South Island confined to the northern and mainly westen third.

Habitat

Coastal to montane (up to 700 m a.s.l.). Mostly at low altitudes and favouring open clay pans, consolidated sand hollows, and geothermal ground. Sometimes on the margins of peat bogs. Most often in gumland scrub or other semi-permanent shrubland habitats where it is especially abundant after fire.

Features

Terrestrial, tuberous, glabrous, late winter to early summer-green perennial herb, either solitary or in well-spaced groups. Plants mostly reddish-green, at flower 100-300 mm tall. Leaf solitary, wiry, distinctly flexuose, fleshy to subcoriaceous, 80.0-160.0 x 2.5-3.0 mm, dark green to reddish green, terete or semi-terete and shallowly channelled, apex often twisted, subacute, often frayed. Inflorescence a 1-8-flowered raceme. Flowers widely spaced, 8-14 mm diameter, segments to 8 x 4 mm, mostly pink, rarely cream or pale lemon yellow with the sepals darker coloured than the petals, without spots or stripes, scarcely opening or not, if opening only slightly spreading. Sepals and petals alike, broadly oblong. Labellum very slightly smaller. Column to 4 mm long, cream to pale pink or dark pink; column arms obliquely erect, more or less ovate, thick, fleshy, margins crenate or toothed, rarely with a few small spheroidal glands, otherwise without further ornamentation or cilia; post anther lobe almost as high as anther, erect, margins fleshy, unevenly thickened to very slightly cucullate, weakly notched, bright yellow. Anther not prominent.

Similar taxa

Not likely to be confused with anyother indigenous species. This species is readily identified by the reddish colour of the stem and leaf, and the slender, zig-zagged (flexuose) terete to semi-terete leaf (usually with a twisted and distinctly frayed apex). The widely spaced mostly pink flowers which scarcely open, are also distinctive. While the small pink grading to yellow, scarcely hooded and notched column, and flattened, toothed column arms lacking cilia are also unusual in New Zealand Thelymitra.

Flowering

August - October

Flower colours

Cream, Red/Pink

Fruiting

September - January

Propagation technique

Difficult - should not not be removed from the wild.

Threats

Not Threatened. However, it has declined from large parts of its range through habitat loss to taller forest or through urban development. Still abundant in the far north but if trends continue it may qualify in the not too distant future for some level of threat.

Etymology

thelymitra: Woman’s hat

carnea: From the Latin carnus ‘flesh’, meaning flesh-coloured

Taxonomic notes

Thelymitra carnea is based on an Australian type. Australian plants tend to be slightly larger than New Zealand forms and often have cream or reddish coloured flowers. Some people regard the New Zealand plant as endemic and use the name T. imberbis Hook.f. for it.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by Peter J. de Lange (14 April 2007). Description adapted from Moore Edgar (1970).

References and further reading

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): Thelymitra carnea Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/thelymitra-carnea/ (Date website was queried)

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