Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Orchidaceae Juss.
Genus
Thelymitra J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Thelymitra longifolia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., Char. Gen. Pl., ed. 2. 98, t. 49 (1776)
Synonymy:
  • = Serapias regularis Banks & Sol. ex G.Forst., Fl. Ins. Austr. 59 (1786)
  • = Thelymitra forsteri Sw. (1800)
  • ≡ Thelymitra longifolia var. forsteri (Sw.) Hatch, Trans. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 79: 396 (1952)
  • = Thelymitra angustifolia Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. III. (Fl. Tasman.) Part II, 5 (1860)
  • = Thelymitra grandis F.Muel. ex Benth., Fl. Austral. 6, 319 (1873)
  • = Thelymitra megcalyptra R.D.Fitzg. (1879)
  • = Thelymitra nemoralis Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 17: 249 (1884 [1885])
  • = Thelymitra alba Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 18: 272 (1885 [1886])
  • ≡ Thelymitra longifolia var. alba (Colenso) Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl., ed. 2, 339 (1925)
Vernacular Name(s):
Māikuku; White sun orchid
 Description

Plant at fl. c. 5–50 cm. tall. Lf c. 10–20 mm. wide, strap-shaped, often ± ridged, especially abaxially, thick but flaccid. Infl. c. 1–10–(20) -fld. Per. c. 8–15 mm. long, ± reddish green externally, internally us. white, occ. pink, without stripes or spots. Dorsal sepal slightly broader than laterals. Petals and labellum alike, ovate, subacute. Column-arms terete, us. bent inward; cilia very ∞, white, short and crowded in globose masses lying ± under post-anther lobe; post-anther lobe overtopping anther, us. dark and smooth above middle and ± yellowish on the cucullate semicircular margin.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Oct.–Feb.

 Bibliography
Bentham, G. 1873: Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian territory. Vol. 6. London.
Cheeseman, T.F. 1925: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Edition 2. Government Printer, Wellington.
Colenso, W. 1885 ("1884"): 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 17: 237–265.
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.
Forster, J.R.; Forster, G. 1776: Characteres Generum Plantarum quas in Itinere ad Insulas Maris Australis Collegerunt, Descripserunt, Delinearunt, Annis. Edition 2. White, Cadell & Elmsley, London.
Hatch, E.D. 1952: The New Zealand Forms of Thelymitra J. R. and G. Forster and Appendices. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 79: 386–402.
Hooker, J.D. 1858–1859: 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. III. Flora Tasmaniae. Part II. Monocotyledones and acotyledones. 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.
St. George, I. 2004: The New Zealand orchids: the editor's annual list of New Zealand orchid taxa. New Zealand Native Orchid Group Journal 93: 9–17. [as Thelymitra purpureo-fusca Colenso]