broadly winged; stigma broad, placed under the erect rostellutn. Anther large, terminal, erect or incumbent, obtuse or pointed, 2-celled; pollinia granular.
A genus of 3 very closely related species, all natives of Australia, 2 of them extending to New Zealand as well.
| Anther long, rostrate. Column-wing with a gland on each side near the base just within the front margin | 1. C. campestris. |
| Anther short, obtuse. Column-wing without any gland, but 2 small erect lamellæ on each side of the base of the lip | 2. C. paludosus. |
1. C. campestris, R. Br. Prodr. 320.—Stem stout, 6–18 in. high. Leaf usually solitary, rarely 2, much shorter than the stem, narrow-linear, thick, channelled; cauline leaves or bracts 1 or 2, sheathing. Flowers 2–8, greenish-purple; pedicels ½–1 in. long; bracts acuminate. Upper sepal ⅓–½ in. long, broadly ovate, acute, concave; lateral narrower. Petals shorter, broadly oblong, falcate, veined. Lip ½–¾ in. long; margins and upper surface except the slender flexuous tip covered with long reddish-purple hairs or fimbriæ, which are longest on the upper part of the lip, and shortest near the base, where they are reduced to clavate calli; usually there is a narrow strip across the very base of the lip which is smooth and bare. Column-wings dilated in front and produced into a rounded lobe on each side, on the inner face of which is a conspicuous gland. Anther long, triangular, rostrate.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 315; Fitzgerald, Austral. Orch. i. pt. 4; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv. (1892) 427.
North Island: Auckland—Rotorua, Rev. F. H. Spencer! Petrie! November–December.
This doubtless has as wide a range as the following species, but so far I have seen no specimens except from Rotorua. These exactly match the plate in Fitzgerald's Australian Orchids, with the exception that the fimbriæ on the lip never show any trace of blue, but are always red.
2. C. paludosus, R. Br. Prodr. 320.—Very similar in habit and appearance to C. campestris, but usually (though not always) more slender, with a rather longer and narrower leaf. Flowers seldom more than 4. Sepals and petals much as in C. campestris. Lip longer, the surface and margins with long red fimbriæ, the linear bare tip longer, and the base with a thin longitudinal raised plate on each side. Column-wing dilated in front and produced into a rounded lobe on each side, not furnished with a gland on the inner face. Anther short, as broad as long, obtuse, neither acuminate nor rostrate.—Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 316; Fitzgerald, Austral. Orch. i. pt. 4; Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1883) 240.
North Island: Auckland—Kaitaia, R. H. Matthews! Aponga (near Whangarei), A. Thompson! Rotorua, Petrie! South Island: Nelson—Vicinity of Collingwood, H. H. Travers! near Westport, W. Townson!
