Corybas carsei (Cheeseman) Hatch

Plant: Up to 3 cm. high.     

Leaf: solitary, sessile, up to 25 mm. long by 19 mm. broad, ovate- to orbicular-cordate.  

Bracts: 2, acute  

Flowers: 1-2, similar to C. rotundifolius but smaller 

Dorsal sepal: very narrow at the base, broadened above and hood-shaped, arched over the lip, apex deeply cleft 

Lateral sepals: shorter than labellium 

Lateral petals: shorter than the labellum 

Labellum: tubular, the margins meeting behind the column and enclosing it, orbicular-cordate when spread out, apex with projecting tip to the lamina; the labellar calli confined to swollen tissue close to the apex and along the raised midline but not back into the throat    

Column: slender, incurved, with an inconspicuous basal callus and an erect tip to the anther. 

Capsule: on a peduncle up to 6 cm 

Type: In Herb. Carse, No. 5931/1 (Canterbury Museum), Lake Tongonge, August 25, 1911, H. Carse. 

Distribution: Now known from only one spot in a swamp in the lower Waikato.  Formerly in 2 peaty swamps at the north end of Lake Tongonge (Kaitaia) and at Tauhei (Morrinsville) 

Ecology: Small groups in bogs containing Lepyrodia traversii F.V.M. and Lycopodium drummondii Spring. Carse (N.Z. Journ. Sci. Tech, 8, 1926, 168) gives an interesting account of the ecology of the species and its apparent dependence upon the sedge and lycopod mentioned above. Confined to bogs, and as agricultural progress demands drainage of the surrounding grassland with consequent drying of the swamps, and as remnant swamps become infested with alien weeds, its habitat shrinks and it disappears. Burning the bogs is being tried as a conservation measure. 

Elevation: Sea level