''Genoplesium formosum'', commonly known as the Cathcart midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid found in southern New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf and up to twenty five dark reddish purple flowers with darker lines.

Description

''Genoplesium formosum'' 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 with the free part long. Between ten and twenty relatively large flowers are crowded along a flowering stem tall and slightly taller than the leaf. The flowers lean downwards, are dark reddish purple with darker lines and are long and wide. As with others in the genus, the flowers 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 long, wide with a sharply pointed tip. The lateral sepals are long, wide with a pointed tip and are free 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 long, about wide and have a pointed tip and sometimes a few hairs on the edges. The labellum is egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, thick and fleshy, long, wide with a sharply pointed tip and coarse hairs on its edges. There is a callus in the centre of the labellum and extending nearly to its tip. Flowering occurs between October and December.

Taxonomy and naming

''Genoplesium formosum'' was first formally described in 2001 by David Jones from a specimen collected in the

Wadbilliga National Park Wadbilliga National Park is a national park that is located in high country spanning the Monaro and South Coast regions of south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Location and features Wadbilliga National Park is located southwest of Sydney ...

and the description was published in ''The Orchadian''. In 2002 Jones and Mark Clements changed the name to ''Corunastylis formosa'' but the change is not accepted by the Australian Plant Census. 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 ...

(''formosum'') is a Latin word meaning “beautifully formed” or "handsome".

Distribution and habitat

The Cathcart midge orchid grows with shrubs or grasses near streams or near swamps. It is found in isolated populations between Wadbilliga National Park and Cathcart.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15464874 formosum Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 2001