''Pterostylis agrestis'' is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Victoria. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering, up to fourteen transparent green flowers with a blunt, greenish-black

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

on the labellum. It is similar to the black-tip greenhood, ''

Pterostylis bicolor ''Pterostylis bicolor'', commonly known as the black-tip greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering, three to ten well-spaced, bright green f ...

'' but that species has larger, less crowded flowers and is found in different habitats.

Description

''Pterostylis agrestis'', 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. It has a rosette of between five and eight crowded, egg-shaped leaves, each leaf long and wide. When flowering there are between three and fourteen crowded, translucent green flowers with darker green lines. The flowers are long and borne on a flowering spike tall with four to six stem leaves. 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 form a hood over the column. The lateral sepals turn downwards, long and wide, dished and joined for most of their length. The labellum is egg-shaped, about long and wide and green with a greenish-black, forward pointing appendage with three ridges. Flowering occurs from September to October.

Taxonomy and naming

This orchid was first formally described in 2009 by David Jones who gave it the name ''Hymenochilus agrestis'' from a specimen collected near Sutton Grange. The description was published in ''The Orchadian''. In 2010,

Gary Backhouse Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

changed the name to ''Pterostylis agrestis''. 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 ...

(''agrestis'') is a Latin word meaning "land", "rural" or "wild ".

Distribution and habitat

This greenhood is poorly known but has been recorded in grassland near

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh (Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is an urban centre and suburban locality in Victoria, Australia located approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne and west of Melton, Victoria, Melton at a near equidistance to th ...

, Maldon, Sutton Grange and Taradale in central Victoria. ''Pterostylis bicolor'' is similar but generally found in woodland or coastal scrub.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17329305 agrestis Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 2009