Plant
To 24 mm tall at flowering. Leaf small, often buried at fruiting;
Flowers
Like pearls sprinkled on the forest floor with apparently ice capped curved dorsal sepal, petals often hidden behind spurs and sepals reduced to small needles.
Flowering
May - August; long stalked capsules evident November to December.
Habitat
Favours deep litter in relatively deep shade; kanuka, beech, taraire or even Douglas fir forest.
Conservation
Widespread, locally very abundant; not threatened.
Notes
Capsules like C. cryptanthus, but scraping litter away usually reveals the leaf. Capsules can be very abundant.
Key features
Apparent lack of petals or sepals, pearly top of dorsal sepal, small leaf.