Pterostylis jonesii

Pterostylis jonesii, commonly known as the montane leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to a small area of south-eastern Australia. Individual plants have either a rosette of three to six leaves or a flowering spike with up to eleven flowers and five to seven stem leaves. The flowers are translucent green with faint darker green lines and have a brownish-yellow labellum with a dark stripe.

Montane leafy greenhood
Pterostylis jonesii growing near the Cotter River
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species:
P. jonesii
Binomial name
Pterostylis jonesii
(D.L.Jones) Backh.
Synonyms[1]

Bunochilus montanus D.L.Jones

Description

Pterostylis jonesii, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between three and six narrow egg-shaped leaves, each leaf 6–25 mm (0.2–1 in) long and 2–6 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide. Flowering plants have up to twenty translucent green flowers with faint darker lines on a flowering spike 150–700 mm (6–30 in) high. The flowering spike has between five and seven stem leaves which are 10–70 mm (0.4–3 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. The flowers are 13–16 mm (0.5–0.6 in) long and the dorsal sepal and petals are joined to form a hood over the column. The lateral sepals turn downwards and are 12–15 mm (0.5–0.6 in) long, 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide and joined to each other for about half their length then taper to orange-brown tips. The labellum is about 6 mm (0.2 in) long, 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, brownish-yellow, covered with hair-like cells and with a dark stripe along its mid-line. Flowering occurs from August to November.[2]

Taxonomy and naming

This greenhood was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones who gave it the name Bunochilus montanus and published the description in Australian Orchid Research.[3] In 2007 Gary Backhouse changed the name to Pterostylis jonesii, rather than Pterostylis montana because that name was already in use for a New Zealand endemic.[4][5] The specific epithet (jonesii) honours David Jones who published the original description.

Distribution and habitat

The montane leafy greenhood is only known from forest in the higher areas of north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.[2]

References
  1. "Pterostylis jonesii". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. Jeanes, Jeff. "Pterostylis jonesii". Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne: vicflora. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  3. "Bunochilus montana". APNI. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  4. "Pterostylis jonesii". APNI. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  5. Backhouse, Gary (2006). "A new name in the terrestrial orchid genus Pterostylis R.Br. (Orchidaceae) for Victoria, Australia". The Victorian Naturalist. 123 (6): 341. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
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