Corybas cryptanthus Hatch

Plant: perennial, saprophytic, almost subterranean 

Tuber: none 

Rhizome: horizontal, creeping on along soil surface, slender (1 mm), whitish, branching from the axils of the cataphylls, the internodes sparsely scattered with short rootlets, tuberous nodules along its length  

Leaf: solitary, terminal, whitish with red flecks, oblong-acute or -apiculate, up to 1 cm. long by 4 mm. broad  

Bract: rudimentary, minute, secondary bract wanting  

Flower: solitary, sessile on the leaf, trans­lucent with red flecks and fimbriae, up to 25 mm. high, and completely buried under the surface debris 

Dorsal sepal: erect, concave, acumi­nate 

Lateral sepals: filiform-caudate, erect or spreading. 

Lateral petals: similar, about a third as long 

Labellum: tubular at the base, disc expanded, orbicular, the margins more or less upturned, with irregular red fimbriae.  

Auricles: prominent, open.   

Column: as in C. rivu­laris, but differing in the prominent column-wings being continued behind and above the anther. 

Capsule: on peduncle elongating up to 15 cm high, with conspicuous bright red flecks. 

Type: in Herb. Hatch, No. 569 Wellsford, 29. July 1950, E. D. Hatch. The accompanying illustration can be regarded as the hypotype of the species. 

Distribution: Endemic to New Zealand; The only reference to its having been seen south of Reefton and North Canterbury is an isolated report from Manapouri. Dome Valley north of Warkworth by Bruce Irwin and Owen Gibson in October 1949.

Ecology: Whole plant, except for mature capsule, typically buried beneath the debris of twigs, leaves, leaf litter (beech or manuka) and moss on forest floor. Self-pollinating.