Pterostylis furcata

Pterostylis furcata, commonly known as the forked greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to Tasmania. Flowering plants have a rosette of bright green leaves at the base of the flowering stem and a single green and white flower with the tip of the dorsal sepal pointing above the horizontal.

Forked greenhood
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species:
P. furcata
Binomial name
Pterostylis furcata

Description

Pterostylis furcata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Flowering plants have a rosette of bright green leaves loosely arranged around the base of the flowering stem, each leaf 30–80 mm (1–3 in) long and 10–20 mm (0.4–0.8 in) wide. A single green and white flower 35–40 mm (1–2 in) long and 16–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) wide is borne on a spike 120–200 mm (5–8 in) high. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column but the dorsal sepal is longer than the petals, has a sharp point on its end and points slightly upwards. There is a wide gap between the lateral sepals and the galea, and there is a curved, deeply notched sinus between them. The labellum is 18–22 mm (0.7–0.9 in) long, about 3 mm (0.1 in) wide, dark-coloured, curved and protrudes above the sinus. Flowering occurs from November to February.[2]

Taxonomy and naming

Pterostylis furcata was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley from a specimen collected in Tasmania and the description was published in The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants.[1][3] The specific epithet (furcata) is a Latin word meaning "forked".[4]

Distribution and habitat

The forked greenhood grows in wet forest and in montane grassland in Tasmania.[2][5]

gollark: I don't like wood, personally. Plastic's a great (set of) material(s).
gollark: It's on my "list of activities to consider doing" ("IfPFAtMDaPIUStL" technically) but obviously the whole COVID-19 thing makes it hard to do much.
gollark: Diving sounds cool.
gollark: OR ARE YOU?
gollark: The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

References
  1. "Pterostylis furcata". APNI. Retrieved 16 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. 307. ISBN 978-1877069123.
  3. Lindley, John (1840). The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants. London: Ridgways. p. 390. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  4. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 345.
  5. Jones, David L. (1998). "Contributions to the Orchidology of Tasmania". Australian Orchid Research. 3: 144–145.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.