Pterostylis erecta

Pterostylis erecta, commonly known as the upright maroonhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. Flowering plants have a rosette of four to seven stalked, dark green, crinkled leaves and a greenish to reddish-brown flower with a gap between the petals and lateral sepals. It occurs in New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland.

Upright maroonhood
Pterostylis erecta growing near Newcastle
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species:
P. erecta
Binomial name
Pterostylis erecta
T.E.Hunt[1]

Description

Pterostylis erecta is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Flowering plants have a rosette of between four and seven stalked, dark green, crinkled leaves, each leaf 15–50 mm long and 10–25 mm wide. A single flower 18–22 mm long and 5–7 mm wide is borne on a spike 150–350 mm high. The flowers are greenish to reddish brown or dark chocolate brown. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column but the dorsal sepal is longer than the petals and has a sharp point on its end. There is a wide gap between the petals and the lateral sepals and the sinus between the lateral sepals has a central notch and bulges slightly forward. The labellum is 6–7 mm long, about 2 mm wide, brown, blunt and just visible above the sinus. Flowering occurs from August to September.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

Pterostylis erecta was first formally described in 1958 by Trevor Edgar Hunt from a specimen collected near Samford in Queensland. The description was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland.[1] The specific epithet (erecta) is a Latin word meaning "upright".[4]

Distribution and habitat

The upright maroonhood grows mainly in coastal and near coastal forest north from Moruya in New South Wales to south-eastern Queensland.[2][3]

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References
  1. "Pterostylis erecta". APNI. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  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. 302. ISBN 978-1877069123.
  3. Jones, David L. "Pterostylis erecta". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: plantnet. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  4. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 307.
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