11009-55102 Fairy lantern (Thismia rodwayi) a peculiar, chlorophyll devoid plant. Vegatatively reduced and leafless. The plant exists solely as white, root-like rhizomes which bear small reddish flowers in early summer. It gains nutrition through association with soil fungi. It is difficult to find and restricted to the middle and upper forests and shrublands of the North Island. Flowers are tiny, 20 mm long, solitary, terminal red, red-orange, or (rarely, as seen here) white with orange striping - these were in rimu litter. Ohakune *
DSC_8401 Striped sun orchid, or maikuku (Thelymitra cyanea) an orchid of bogs and damp areas. Conspicuously striped flowers are typically dark blue, but they can be pink, and occasionally white. Jollies Pass *
IMG_0264 Striped sun orchid, or maikuku (Thelymitra cyanea) an orchid of bogs and damp areas. Conspicuously striped flowers are typically dark blue, but they can be pink, and occasionally white. Jollies Pass *
