| B. Catochilus. Lower lip reflexed. Basal appendage of lip entire, obtuse. | |
| Leaves ovate-lanceolate. Flower solitary, large, ¾–1 in. long; lip filiform, clothed with golden-yellow hairs | 10. P. barbata. |
| Leaves ovate. Flowers 2–8, small, ¼ in. long; lip oblong, obtuse, glabrous | 11. P. mutica. |
1. P. Banksii, R. Br. ex A. Cunn. in Bot. Mag. t. 3172.—Tall, slender, leafy, grassy, 6–18 in. high. Lower leaves reduced to scarious sheathing scales; cauline numerous, sheathing the whole stem, usually overtopping the flower but often shorter than it, 3–14 in. long, ¼–½ in. broad, narrow linear-lanceolate, acuminate, pale-green. Flower solitary, large, 2–3 in. long including the tails to the lateral sepals, green, often streaked with red or reddish-brown. Galea erect at the base and then curved forwards; upper sepal produced into a long caudate often filiform point; petals also caudate-acuminate or shortly filiform, but always much shorter than the upper sepal. Lower lip with the entire part broadly cuneate, the free lobes gradually narrowed into long filiform erect tails 1–2 in. long. Lip narrow linear-oblong, obtuse, its tip slightly exserted; basal appendage curved, repeatedly divided and penicillate at the tip. Column slender, more than half the length of the galea, upper lobe of wings with an erect subulate tooth at the outer angle; lower lobe narrow-oblong, obtuse.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 313; Raoul, Choix, 41; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 248; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 268. P. emarginata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 328. P. patens, Col. l.c. xviii. (1886) 270. P. speciosa, Col. l.c. xxii. (1890) 488. P. auriculata, Col. l.c. 489. P. subsimilis, Col. l.c. xxviii. (1896) 611.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands: Abundant in shaded places from the North Cape southwards. Sea-level to 3500 ft. October–November.
The most widely spread of the New Zealand species. It varies much in size and degree of robustness, the size of the flower, and in the length of the filiform tails to the sepals and petals, &c. Mr. Colenso has made no less than 5 species based upon what appear to me to be exceedingly slight and inconstant differences. After a careful study of his descriptions and specimens I must confess my inability to distinguish any of them, even as varieties.
2. P. australis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 248.—Habit of P. Banksii but shorter, 4–10 in. high, rarely more. Leaves shorter and broader, seldom overtopping the flower, ½–¾ in. broad, linearlanceolate, acute or acuminate. Flower small, ¾–1¼ in. long, including the points of the sepals. Galea much as in P. Banksii, but the upper sepal and petals are not produced into filiform points. Lower lip with the free lobes narrowed into short subulate erect points not exceeding the galea in length. Lip and column as in P. Banksii.—P. Banksii var. b. Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 268.
