''Genoplesium baueri'', commonly known as the brittle midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid which is endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf and up to nine yellowish green to reddish brown flowers. It is mostly only found in coastal and near-coastal heath and woodland between Port Stephens and

Ulladulla Ulladulla is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia in the City of Shoalhaven local government area. It is on the Princes Highway about south of Sydney, halfway between Batemans Bay to the south and Nowra to the north. Ulladulla has c ...

Description

''Genoplesium baueri'' 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, about wide with the free part long. Up to nine yellowish green to reddish brown flowers are crowded along a flowering stem tall and taller than the leaf. The flowers are long, wide and as with others in the genus, 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 a broad egg shape, about long, wide with a long thin tip and hairless edges. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, long, about wide, boat-shaped near the tip and spread widely apart. 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 egg-shaped, pointed, about long and wide with hairless, sometimes notched edges. The labellum is narrow egg-shaped to lance-shaped, about long, wide with the edges rolled and hairless. There is a fleshy, raised, channelled callus in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs between December and April and is enhanced by fire the previous summer.

Taxonomy and naming

The brittle leek orchid was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who published the description in '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. 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 ...

(''baueri'') honours Ferdinand Bauer.

Distribution and habitat

''Genoplesium baueri'' grows in heath, woodland and forest, mostly in coastal and near-coastal areas. It has been recorded between Port Stephens and Ulladulla and as far inland as Woodford and Penrose State Forest.

Conservation

This midge orchid is only known from about 200 plants in thirteen sites and has been classed as "Endangered" under the New South Wales ''Threatened Species Conservation Act'' and the Commonwealth Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (EPBC) Act.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15463060 baueri Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 1810