Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Orchidaceae Juss.
Genus
Earina Lindl.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Earina autumnalis (G.Forst.) Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 239 (1853)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Epidendrum autumnale G.Forst., Fl. Ins. Austr. 60 (1786)
  • = Earina suaveolens Lindl. (1843)
  • = Earina alba Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 18: 267 (1885 [1886])
Vernacular Name(s):
Easter orchid; Raupeka
 Description

Plant at fl. to 100 cm. long, us. very much less. Stem erect if short, drooping if long, completely clad in sheathing lf-bases. Lf-sheaths mostly 3–4 mm. diam., little flattened, each overlapping at least half of the one above, deeply split with free edges dark, otherwise mostly pale; lamina 4–12 cm. × 5–8 mm., widest near base, broad almost to subacute tip, long persistent. Rhizome thickly covered with sheathing scale lvs or their fibrous remains. Panicle c. 5–10 cm. long, us. erect; racemes ∞, arranged distichously at short intervals up stiff central axis, each lateral stem to c. 10 mm. long with a few crowded empty bracts and 1–3 almost sessile fls. Per. c. 13 mm. diam., opening widely, waxy white. Sepals elliptic, slightly keeled, subacute. Petals slightly broader and more obtuse. Labellum broad and obtuse, white except for yellow base, standing erect and half enclosing column, transversely rhomboid, not lobed; distal margins slightly thickened and recurved; near base 2 short crescent-shaped ridges lead down to small, brightly coloured pit (nectary?). Column much shorter, broadest at base, wings projecting in small lobes about level of stigma; pollinia clavate.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: (Jan.)–Feb.–Apr.–(Jun.)

 Bibliography
Colenso, W. 1886 ("1885"): A description of some newly-discovered and rare indigenous plants: being a further contribution towards the making known the botany of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 18: 256–287.
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]
Forster, J.G.A. 1786: Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus. Dietrich, Göttingen.
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.
Parsons, M.J.; Douglass, P.; Macmillan, B.H. 1998: Current Names List for wild Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons (except Grasses) of New Zealand as used in Herbarium CHR. Version 1, to 31 Dec 1995. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand.