''Caladenia chlorostyla'' is a plant in the orchid family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is a ground orchid with a single narrow, sparsely hairy leaf and a thin wiry stem usually bearing one pale mauve, pinkish or white flower.

Description

''C. chlorostyla'' is a terrestrial,

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

, usually occurring as a solitary individual. It has an underground tuber and a single sparsely hairy, bright green, narrow linear leaf up to long and wide. Caladenia chlorostyla LC277

One, sometimes up to five, unscented flowers up to in diameter are borne on a thin, wiry spike, tall. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are white, pale mauve or pinkish with greenish-white tips. The dorsal sepal is erect with its sides turned forwards, the lateral sepals are held horizontally and flat and the

s either spread widely or turn inwards. The dorsal sepal is long and narrow egg-shaped, the lateral sepals and petals are , about wide, curved like a sickle and egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. The

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

is green with transverse red bars. Flowering occurs between September and January and is followed from December to April by the fruit which is a green, oval-shaped capsule long which sometimes has purple stripes.

Taxonomy and naming

''C. chlorostyla'' was first formally described in 1997 by David Jones, Brian Molloy and Mark Clements from a specimen collected by Clements near the

Tinline River The Tinline River is a river of the Marlborough Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows generally south from its sources at the northern end of the Bryant Range to reach the Pelorus River seven kilometres west of Pelorus Bridge. The river ...

. The description was published in ''The Orchadian''.

Distribution and habitat

This caladenia grows in sunny position in scrub but also in old-growth forests and frequently in mature pine plantations. ''C. saccata'' is regarded as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''C. chlorostyla'' in New Zealand.

Conservation

''C. chlorostyla'' was classified in 2012 as "not threatened".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15287491 chlorostyla Plants described in 1997 Orchids of New Zealand Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)