''Pterostylis areolata'' is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves flat on the ground but the flowering plants have a single flower with leaves on the flowering spike. This greenhood has green and translucent white-striped flowers similar to those of '' P. australis'' but the stem leaves are shorter and never higher than the flowers.

Description

''Pterostylis areolata'' 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 when not flowering, one or two egg-shaped leaves, long and wide. Flowering plants usually have a single pale green flower with translucent white stripes, sometimes with orange-coloured tips. The flowers are relatively large, lean forwards and are borne on a flowering stem high with between two and four 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 are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over 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. ...

with the dorsal sepal having a short point on its end. The lateral sepals spread apart from each other and turn towards the back of the galea. The labellum is red becoming darker near the tip. Flowering occurs from October to December.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis areolata'' was first formally described in 1968 by Donald Petrie and the description was published in '' Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute'' from a specimen collected near the Awatere River. 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 ...

(''areolata'') is a Latin word meaning "with small spaces".

Distribution and habitat

This greenhood grows in tussock grassland and scrub, near wetlands and in open forest. It occurs on both main islands of New Zealand, in a few places on the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

but is widespread, especially on the eastern side of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491576 areolata Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New Zealand Plants described in 1949