''Genoplesium anthracinum'', commonly known as the black midge orchid, is a species of small terrestrial orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to thirty small, coal black flowers. It grows in heath in coastal and near-coastal parts of the Northern Rivers area.

Description

''Genoplesium anthracinum'' 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 eight and thirty coal black flowers are arranged along a flowering stem tall and taller than the leaf. The flowers are about long and 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 about long and wide with hairless edges. The lateral sepals are about long, wide, have a prominent

gland In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

on the pointed tip 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 about long, wide with hairless edges and spread widely apart from each other. The labellum is about long, wide, with an irregular margin and a sharply pointed tip. There is a callus in the centre of the labellum and extending nearly to its tip. Flowering occurs in April and May.

Taxonomy and naming

The black midge orchid was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones who gave it the name ''Corunastylis anthracina'' and published the description in ''Australian Orchid Research''. In 2014,

Julian Shaw Julian Shaw (born 16 December 1985 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an author, filmmaker and actor, best known for directing the 2007 film ''Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story'', a British Film Institute award-winning documentary about the life of So ...

changed the name to ''Genoplesium anthracinum''. 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 ...

(''anthracinum'') means "coal black".

Distribution and habitat

''Genoplesium anthracinum'' grows in heath, often colonising disturbed sites and is found between Byron Bay and Wardell.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25907187 anthracinum Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 2006