Cheesemans spider orchid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cheesemans spider orchid |
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| Corybas cheesemanii in the Esk Reserve, Glenfield | |
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The Corybas cheesemanii, often called the Cheesemans spider orchid or spurred helmet orchid, is a unique type of orchid. It grows only in New Zealand, meaning it is endemic there.
This small orchid has a single, pale green leaf shaped like a heart. It usually produces just one flower. The flowers can be many colors, from dark maroon to completely white. You can often find this orchid growing in very shady places, sometimes hidden in deep piles of fallen leaves. It blooms during the autumn and winter months.
What Does It Look Like?
The Cheesemans spider orchid is a land plant that lives for many years. It is a deciduous herb, which means it loses its leaves each year. It has one heart-shaped or almost round leaf. This leaf is usually about 10 to 20 millimeters (0.4 to 0.8 inches) long. Sometimes, the leaf is just a tiny green scale. The top of the leaf is green, and the underside is a silvery green color.
Usually, there is only one flower. Its color can vary from dark pink to a grayish-white with purple spots, or it can be all white. The flower grows to be about 10 to 14 millimeters (0.4 to 0.6 inches) tall. The biggest part of the flower is the dorsal sepal. This is a hood-like part that completely covers the rest of the flower. The lateral sepals are very tiny, and the petals are usually too small to see.
The labellum (the orchid's special lip petal) is cream-colored or white. It is shaped like a tube near its base. It also has a narrow, downward-pointing spur on each side at its base. These orchids flower from May to September. After flowering, a fruit called a capsule forms. This capsule can be up to 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) long. It grows on a stem that can stretch up to 220 millimeters (8.7 inches) tall.
How It Got Its Name
This orchid was first officially described in 1871 by a botanist named Thomas Kirk. He used notes from an earlier, unpublished description by Joseph Dalton Hooker. Hooker had named it Corysanthes cheesemanii. He named it after Thomas Frederick Cheeseman, who collected the first samples of this plant. This description was published in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute.
Later, in 1891, another botanist named Otto Kuntze changed the name to Corybas cheesemanii. The second part of its name, cheesemanii, honors Thomas Frederick Cheeseman, who found the first plants used to describe the species.
Where It Lives
Cheesemans spider orchid prefers to grow in very shady places. You can often find it buried in thick layers of rotting leaves in tall scrubland or forests. It grows on several islands in New Zealand. These include the North Island, the South Island, the Three Kings Islands, and the Chatham Islands.
Is It Protected?
The New Zealand Government Department of Conservation has classified Corybas cheesemanii as "not threatened." This means that currently, there are enough of these orchids, and they are not in danger of disappearing.
