Orchid Experts
Dr Peter de Lange
Research scientist for the Department of Conservation specialising in rare and threatened plants
Dr Peter de Lange is a Department of Conservation’s threatened plants scientist who has spent hours searching out New Zealand’s rarest orchids in swamps and forests. Hear Dr de Lange talk about the rare flying duck orchid (Paracaleana minor), the swamp helmet orchid (Anzybas carsei), which is our rarest endemic orchid, and what makes New Zealand orchids so special that people come from far and wide to try and steal them.
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Introduction and Duck Orchid
Audio Clip (3:33)
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Orchid Mystique and the Unusal
Audio Clip (5:46)
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Swamp Helmet Orchid
Audio Clip (7:25)
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Dr Ian St George
Journal editor of the New Zealand Native Orchid Group
 Dr Ian St George has a passion for New Zealand’s native orchids. The Wellington doctor says while New Zealand’s orchids tend to be small they still hold orchid lovers in thrall. “They have an extraordinary beauty. In New Zealand their beauty is microscopic, so looking at them through a camera lens or a projection on a screen increases the appreciation of that beauty.” He says orchids are quite abundant in New Zealand’s forest and bush, once you know what you are looking for.
What’s more, he says, the act of looking for them is a good excuse to slow down and have a stop when slogging uphill. “In New Zealand 60% of our species are self-pollinators. The parts of the flower that are normally kept apart are in much closer proximity. This is highly unusual, but no-one knows the answer.”
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