Pterostylis sargentii

Pterostylis sargentii commonly known as the frog greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a relatively common orchid which has up to six relatively small, white flowers with green or brown stripes and a fleshy, three-part, frog-like labellum. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk.

Frog greenhood
Pterostylis sargentii between Williams and Narrogin
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species:
P. sargentii
Binomial name
Pterostylis sargentii
C.R.P.Andrews[1]
Synonyms[2]

Description

Pterostylis sargentii, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between three and six leaves 5–18 mm (0.2–0.7 in) long and 3–8 mm (0.1–0.3 in) wide on a short stalk. Flowering plants lack a rosette but have between three and ten stem leaves which are 8–30 mm (0.3–1 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide on the flowering stem. Up to six white and green or brown striped flowers are borne on the flowering stem which is 50–200 mm (2–8 in) high. The flowers are 15–25 mm (0.6–1 in) long and 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. The dorsal sepal and petals form a hood or "galea" over the column with the dorsal sepal having a thread-like tip 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long. The lateral sepals turn downwards are joined for about half their length, then suddenly taper to narrow tips 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long. The labellum is 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, dark brown with three lobes, the side ones with a large, horn-like appendage. Flowering occurs from July to October.[3][4][5]

Taxonomy and naming

Pterostylis sargentii was first formally described in 1905 by the British educator, Cecil Rollo Payton Andrews and the description was published in Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society.[1][3][6] The specific epithet (sargentii) honours the Western Australian pharmacist Oswald Sargent who collected the type specimen.[6][7]

Distribution and habitat

The frog greenhood is found in a wide range of habitats throughout the south-west of Western Australia, but especially between Mullewa and Grass Patch.[3][4][5][8]

Conservation

Pterostylis sargentii is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[8]

gollark: Wait, no, 1d8.
gollark: Well, I guess I have five days eight hours to decide what to do with my siyat pile.
gollark: What do you mean dropped?
gollark: Do they sell for CB silvers or whatever nowadays?
gollark: I'll throw out a dark lumina or something.

References
  1. "Pterostylis sargentii". APNI. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  2. "Pterostylis sargentii". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. Brown, Andrew; Dundas, Pat; Dixon, Kingsley; Hopper, Stephen (2008). Orchids of Western Australia. Crawley, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. p. 387. ISBN 9780980296457.
  4. Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. pp. 336–337. ISBN 978-1877069123.
  5. Hoffman, Noel; Brown, Andrew (2011). Orchids of South-West Australia (3rd ed.). Gooseberry Hill: Noel Hoffman. p. 429. ISBN 9780646562322.
  6. Andrews, Cecil R. P. (1905). "A new species of Orchideae from Western Australia". Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society. 2: 57. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  7. "Sargent, Oswald H. (1880 - 1952)". Australian National Botanic Garden. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  8. "Pterostylis sargentii". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
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