''Genoplesium alticola'', commonly known as the tableland midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to Queensland. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to twenty five small, hairy, dark purplish-red and green flowers. It grows in two small areas of the state at altitudes between .

Description

''Genoplesium alticola'' is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous,

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 ...

with an underground tuber and a single thin leaf long and fused to the flowering stem with the free part long. Between ten and twenty five dark purplish-red and green flowers are well spaced along a flowering stem tall but lower than the leaf. The flowers are long, about wide and are inverted so that the labellum is above 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. ...

rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is egg-shaped, about long and wide with darker edges and three lines along its centre. The edges of the dorsal sepal have short, dark hairs. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, dark purplish red, about long, wide and spread widely apart from each other. The

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 a broad egg-shape, dark purplish red with marking similar to those on the dorsal sepal and are about long and wide densely hairy edges. The labellum is elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, about long, wide, with short, coarse hairs on the sides. There is an oblong callus in the centre of the labellum and covering about half of its surface. Flowering occurs between December and February.

Taxonomy and naming

''Genoplesium alticola'' was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen collected near Danbulla and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''alticola'') is derived from the Latin words ''altus'' meaning "high" and ''cola'' meaning "dweller", referring to the plant's relatively high altitude habitat.

Distribution and habitat

''Genoplesium alticola'' grows in sparse forest, often in grass tussocks on ridges on higher places. It is only known from the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...

near Heberton and on

Walshs Pyramid Walshs Pyramid is an independent peak with a distinct pyramidal appearance, high, located within Wooroonooran National Park about south of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. An annual footrace to its summit is held on the thir ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15462515

alticola ''Alticola'' is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae. Species *Subgenus ''Alticola'' ** White-tailed mountain vole (''Alticola albicauda'') ** Silver mountain vole (''Alticola argentatus'') ** Gobi Altai mountain vole (''Alticola ba ...

Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1991