Species

Corybas hypogaeus

Etymology

Corybas: helmet flower

Current Conservation Status

2018 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened
2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Corybas hypogaeus (Colenso) Lehnebach

Family

Orchidaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

NEMHYP

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.

Structural Class

Orchids

Synonyms

Corysanthes hypogaea Colenso; Nematoceras hypogaeum (Colenso) Molloy, D.L.Jones et M.A.Clem.

Distribution

Endemic. North and South Islands. In the North known from the Hunua Range, Waikato and Wairarapa. In the South known only from north-west Nelson

Habitat

Lowland to montane (up to 1000 m a.s.l.). In Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides (A.Rich.) Joy Thomps.) or beech (Nothofagus Blume) dominated forest, and on the margins of swamps developed within such vegetation types. Usually found near the trunks of these trees, semi buried in deep drifts of semi-rotted leaves. The leaf is all that is usually exposed.

Features

Diminutive, terrestrial, fleshy, late winter to early spring flowering perennial forming extensive colonies through vegetative extension. Plants buried within leaf-litter usually only with the leaf exposed. Leaf solitary, held well above flower, much veined, veins largely anastomosing with longitudinal dots in the interspaces; distinctly petiolate, petiole 10-15 mm long, white often pinkish, with a sheathing truncate bract at base; lamina membranous, shining, 11.5-18.4 mm diameter, light green above, midrib and marginal spots purple; silvery to purple-silvery below; cordate-reniform to weakly pandurate, trilobed at apex, middle lobe prolonged, acute, acuminate, side margins sinuate with a single notch on both sides near the sub-hastate base, auricles large, distant, blunt-ended. Peduncle short, 2.3-4.6 mm long, hyaline, white or pinkish opaque. Floral bracts two, unequal, set close to base of flower, smaller bract to the front of the peduncle, minute, linear, obtuse; the larger bract set to the back to the peduncle, ovate-oblong, obtuse. Flower solitary 6.9-9.2 mm diameter. Dorsal sepal sub-obovate-spathulate, narrowest at base, rounded and slightly sinuate or subapiculate at apex rather finely veined, arching and closely clasping, green with a purple median line; lateral sepals up to 15 mm long, hyaline or pinkish opaque, linear, acuminate, very narrow-filiform. Petals up to 9.2 mm long, hyaline or pinkish opaque, filiform, 9.2 mm long. Labellum short, auriculate at base, apex abruptly flared with rounded and incurved margins, basal portion bearing 2-3 deeply cut laciniae, otherwise deeply and jaggedly cut. Fruit narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid borne on greatly elongated peduncle arising well above leaf litter.

Similar Taxa

Allied to and distinguished from the rest of the Nematoceras trilobum Hook.f. complex by the tiny flower, which is usually found buried in the leaf litter, and by the distinctly jagged-edged, incurved labellum.

Flowering

August - September

Flower Colours

Red / Pink,Violet / Purple

Fruiting

September - December

Propagation Technique

Difficult - should not be removed from the wild. Can be grown in basic orchid mix consisting of 2 parts medium coarse sand, ideally clean river sand; 2 parts soil, humus or leaf-mould; 1 part weathered sawdust or rotting wood; 1 part granulated bark. Many Corybas thrive when more leaf-mould is added, and the plants grown in 50-70% shade, in the cooler, darker end of the shade-house, in pots kept moist throughout the growing period.

Threats

Not Threatened

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

TAXONOMIC NOTES

Considerable research is underway to investigate the validity of the segregate genera split from Corybas R.Br. by Jones et al. (2002). Whilst much of that work has yet to be published, on advice from Australian Orchidologists Peter Weston and Stephen Hopper (pers. comm., July 2011, November 2014), all of the segregate genera recognised for New Zealand by Jones et al. (2002) are returned to Corybas. 

Recently Lehnebach (2016) has made three combinations for those Nematoceras lacking valid names in Corybas. This action now enables the full transfer of Nematoceras back to Corybas. However, as of writing, a formal publication rejecting the segregation of Corybas by Jones et al. (2002) has yet to be published. Lehnebach cites an unpublished PhD (Lyon 2014) that indicates this move is imminent.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 April 2007. Description modified from Colenso (1884)

References and further reading

Colenso, W. 1884. A further contribution towards making known the botany of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 16: 325-363.

Jones, D.L.; Clements, M.A.; Sharma, I.K.; Mackenzie, A.M.; Molloy, B.P.J. 2002: Nomenclatural notes arising from studies into the Tribe Diurideae (Orchidaceae). The Orchadian 13: 437-468.

Lehnebach, C. 2016: New combinations and a replacement name for three New Zealand spider orchids (Corybas). The New Zealand Native Orchid Journal 139. 4-5.

Lyon, S. P. 2014: Molecular systematics, biogeography, and mycorrhizal associations in the Acianthinae (Orchidaceae), with a focus on the genus Corybas. PhD Thesis, University of
Wisconsin-Madison. USA.

 

This page last updated on 16 Jan 2016