Species
Corybas papillosus
Etymology
Corybas: helmet flower
Common Name(s)
Spider Orchid
Current Conservation Status
2012 - Data Deficient
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
2009 - Data Deficient
2004 - Not Threatened
Authority
Corybas papillosus (Colenso) Lehnebach
Family
Orchidaceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Native
Structural Class
Orchids
Synonyms
Corysanthes papillosa Colenso; Nematoceras papillosum (Colenso) Molloy, D.L.Jones et M.A.Clem.
Distribution
Endemic. North Island. Hawkes Bay (exact distribution still uncertain)
Habitat
Montane (up to 1000 m a.s.l.) in damp, shaded sites under tall forest or associated with rock overhangs. Favouring base-rich substrates such as calcareous mudstones, siltstones and limestones.
Features
Terrestrial, tuberous spring to summer-green perennial forming extensive colonies through vegetative extension. Plant at flowering 90-100 mm tall. Leaf 20-25 mm diameter, petiole 6-55 mm long, white or pinkish white. Lamina orbicular-cordate, apex slightly retuse with an apiculate; light green sometimes with a purple midrib, margin spotted with purple; membranous, finely and regularly papillose on upper surface, veins anastomosing with an intramarginal vein running all round; lamina. Flower solitary 12-18 mm diameter, mostly held over leaf or just below it. Ovary subangular, purple striped. Peduncle 6.9-9.2 mm long, purple spotted, Floral bracts 2, situated at base of ovary; unequal, the one facing the flower minute, white, ovate-acuminate; the one facing the back of the flower much larger, green, ovate-acuminate. Dorsal sepal projecting far beyond lip, membranous, 17-20 x 5.8 mm, greenish white spotted with purple-red, suboblong-lanceolate, apex acute, recurved and acuminate; lateral sepals fleshy,14-22 mm long, whitish or pale pink in basal half otherwise purple-red or spotted with maroon, filiform with acute apices, more or less flexuose. Petals fleshy, c.30-48 mm long, white in basal half otherwise purple-red, minutely spotted dark-maroon, filiform with obtuse apices, flexuose. Labellum 14-16 x 16-18 mm, orbicular, very narrow at base, otherwise funnelform, with mouth widely flaring, deeply cleft into two slightly notched lobes above, basally more or less entire with retuse and apiculate apices; upper labellum margins dark red-purple externally and internally, rounded, entire, very minutely undulate, or finely denticulate, lower labellum surfaces more or less transparent grading through whitish to pink, red-purple flecked or maculate. Capsules broadly ovoid on greatly elongated peduncles.
Similar Taxa
Corybas macranthus is very similar and C. papillosus has long been considered merely a form of that variable species. Most populations of C. macranthus differ from C. papillosus by the dark maroon-black or wine red labellum, sometimes with a green throat in contrast Corybas papillosus has a distinctly bicoloured labellum (dark red-purple in the upper half, and pale pink grading through to whitish in the lower half). Colenso (1884) stressed that the leaf of C. papillosus (as Corysanthes papillosa) was distinctly papillate on the upper leaf surface. it is not clear if this is a consistent difference from the highly variable C. macranthus.
Flowering
October - December
Flower Colours
Red / Pink,Violet / Purple
Fruiting
November - March
Propagation Technique
Difficult - should not be removed from the wild. Can be grown in basic orchid mix consists 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 if 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
Data Deficient
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
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.
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.
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