Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Orchidaceae Juss.
Genus
Dendrobium Sw.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dendrobium cunninghamii Lindl. (1835)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Winika cunninghamii (Lindl.) M.A.Clem., D.L.Jones & Molloy, 12: 215-218 (1997)
  • = Dendrobium saxosum Colenso nom. illeg.
  • = Dendrobium lessonii Colenso, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 15: 326 (1882 [1883])
 Description

Plant to 150 cm. long, often much less. Stems cane-like, tending to be locally thickened towards base and there to 7 mm. diam. in large plants; lateral branches ∞, coming off at wide angle, ± drooping; bare parts mostly c. 2 mm. diam., bright yellow and polished. Lf-sheaths tubular, minutely papillose, overlapping, covering all younger stems; lamina c. 3–5 cm. × 3 mm., narrow-linear, dark at joint with sheath. Rhizome stem-like, giving off ± branched roots. Infls 1–6-fld, produced a few nodes back from lfy tip, as short, slender laterals; floral bracts tubular, short, inconspicuous; pedicel very slender, longer than ovary. Per. c. 2–2.5 cm. diam., glab., white, lip and column us. partly rose-pink to purplish or green. Sepals elliptic, spreading, tips ± reflexed; laterals connate under labellum and adnate to column-base, giving characteristic shape to bud. Petals slightly broader. Labellum shorter, distinctly 3-lobed; lateral lobes small, often coloured, inclined to stand parallel to one another; mid-lobe white, broad, subacute, minutely crenulate; disc with 4–5 pale-coloured, low, longitudinal ridges terminating just above short claw and near to a coloured knob (nectary) at end of column-foot. Column about as long as its foot, cylindric, very narrowly winged.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Clements, M.A.; Jones, A. J.; Molloy, B. P. J. 1997: Winika, a new monotypic genus for the New Zealand orchid previously known as Dendrobium cunninghamii Lindl. The Orchadian 12(5): 214–219.
Colenso, W. 1883: Descriptions of a few new indigenous plants. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 15: 320–339.
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]
Garnock-Jones, P.J. 2014: Evidence-based review of the taxonomic status of New Zealand’s endemic seed plant genera. New Zealand Journal of Botany 52(2): 163–212.