''Genoplesium oliganthum'', commonly known as the Mongarlowe midge orchid, is a species of small terrestrial orchid which is endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf and up to nine greenish brown to reddish flowers with a purplish labellum. It grows with grasses and shrubs on the Southern Tablelands.

Description

''Genoplesium oliganthum'' 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 leaf which is long with the free part long. Up to nine greenish brown to reddish flowers are arranged along of the flowering stem which is taller than the leaf. The flowers are about long and wide and have darker stripes on the dorsal sepal 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. 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 about long and wide with hairless edges and a sharply pointed tip. The lateral sepals are about long, wide and spread widely apart from each other. The

s are about long and wide with hairless edges and a sharply pointed tip. The labellum is elliptic in shape, about long, wide, thick and fleshy with hairy edges and a pointed tip. There is a callus in the centre of the labellum and extending almost to its tip. Flowering occurs between January and April.

Taxonomy and naming

''Genoplesium oliganthum'' was first formally described in 2001 by David Jones who published the description in ''The Orchadian'' from a specimen collected near Braidwood. In 2002, Jones and Mark Clements changed the name to ''Corunastylis oligantha''. 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 ...

(''oliganthum'') is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''oligos'' meaning "few'', ''little" or "scanty" and ''anthos'' meaning "flower".

Distribution and habitat

The Mongarlowe midge orchid grows with grasses and shrubs in woodland between

Mongarlowe Mongarlowe is a village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. In former times, it was also known, in various contexts, as Little River, Monga, and Sergeants Point. Location and featur ...

, Braidwood and Nerriga.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15464197 oliganthum Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 2001