Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Orchidaceae Juss.
Genus
Drymoanthus Nicholls
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Drymoanthus adversus (Hook.f.) Dockrill (1967)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Sarcochilus adversus Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 241 (1853)
  • = Sarcochilus breviscapa Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 14: 332 (1881 [1882])
 Description

Plant a lfy tuft c. 4–12–(15) cm. diam., the roots us. much the longest parts. Stem to c. 5 cm. long,often much shorter, erect, lower part covered with imbricating old lf-bases. Green lvs at any one time c. 4–6–(9); lamina to c. 6 × 1.5 cm., elliptic-oblong, tip acute, slightly twisted, minutely 2-toothed when young, base meeting sheath along clearly defined abscission line. Racemes arising among or below green lvs, sts both a higher and a lower one produced in a single season; old raceme-axes persisting on lower part of stem for several years. Fls opp. to irregularly alternate, pedicel < to > small membr. bract. Per. greenish white flecked with red. Sepals and petals subequal, c. 3.5 × 1.5 mm. Labellum almost as long and broader, very fleshy, ± erect, smoothly convex externally, deeply channelled; mid-lobe distinct only as small cucullate tip; lateral lobes forming sides of clog-shaped structure and each with an internally projecting, partly transverse ridge. Column much shorter, broadly cylindric, its foot barely recognisable to quite well defined. Capsules c. 15 × 3.5 mm., large for size of raceme.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Oct.–Dec.

 Bibliography
Colenso, W. 1882: A description of a few new plants from our New Zealand forests. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 14: 329–341.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Molloy, B.P.J.; St.George, I. M. 1994: A new species of Drymoanthus (Orchidaceae) from New Zealand, and typification of D. adversus. New Zealand Journal of Botany 32: 415–421.