Pterostylis stenochila

Narrow-lip leafy greenhood
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Diurideae
Subtribe: Pterostylidinae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species: P. stenochila
Binomial name
Pterostylis stenochila
D.L.Jones[1]
Synonyms[2]

Pterostylis stenochila, commonly known as the narrow-lip leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. Flowering plants have up to seven shiny, transparent green flowers with darker green stripes. The flowers have an insect-like labellum which is green with an emerald green stripe along its centre. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a stalk, but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having five or six stem leaves.

Pterostylis stenochila setting seeds

Description

Pterostylis stenochila, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between three and five lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves, each leaf 20–40 mm (0.8–2 in) long and 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide on a stalk 30–50 mm (1–2 in) tall. Flowering plants have up to seven transparent green flowers with darker green stripes on a flowering spike 120–300 mm (5–10 in) high. The flowering spike has five or six lance-shaped to egg-shaped stem leaves which are 15–50 mm (0.6–2 in) long and 5–9 mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column with the dorsal sepal having a short point on its tip. The petals have a wide, transparent flange on their outer edges. The lateral sepals turn downwards, 10–13 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long, about 5 mm (0.2 in) wide and joined for part of their length. The labellum is insect-like, 6–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long, about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, with an emerald green stripe along it centre and a mound on the "head" end. Flowering occurs from July to September.[3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Pterostylis stenochila was first formally described in 1998 by David Jones and the description was published in Muelleria from a specimen collected at Brooks Bay near Geeveston.[1] The specific epithet (stenochila) is derived from the Ancient Greek words stenos meaning "narrow"[5]:546 and cheilos meaning "lip",[5]:200 referring to the narrow labellum.[3]

Distribution and habitat

The narrow-lip leafy greenhood grows in heathy forest at altitudes of up to 300 m (1,000 ft).[4][3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Pterostylis stenochila". APNI. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Pterostylis stenochila". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. 1 2 3 Jones, David L. (1998). "Contributions to Tasmanian Orchidology". Autralian Orchid Research. 3: 153–154.
  4. 1 2 Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. p. 319. ISBN 1877069124.
  5. 1 2 Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
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