''Pterostylis chocolatina'', commonly known as the chocolate-lip leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. As with similar greenhoods, plants in flower differ from those that are not. Plants not in flower have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk, but when in flower, plants lack a rosette and have up to thirteen green flowers on a flowering stem with stem leaves. The labellum is dark brown with a blackish lump near its base.

Description

''Pterostylis chocolatina'', 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. When not flowering, plants have a rosette of between three and six leaves, each leaf long and wide on a stalk high. Plants in flower lack a rosette but have between three and thirteen flowers on a flowering spike high with between five and eight stem leaves that are long and wide. The flowers are dark green with darker lines, partly transparent, long and wide. 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 joined to form a hood called the "galea" over the column. The lateral sepals turn downwards and are long, wide and joined for about half their length. The labellum is long, about wide and dark brown with a blackish lump on the top end. Flowering occurs from July to September.

Taxonomy and naming

The chocolate-lip greenhood was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones who gave it the name ''Bunochilus chocolatinus''. The description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research'' from a specimen collected near Wentworth Falls. In 2010,

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changed the name to ''Pterostylis chocolatina''. 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 ...

(''chocolatina'') is a Latin word meaning "chocolate brown", referring to the colour of the labellum.

Distribution and habitat

''Pterostylis chocolatina'' grows between grasses and other small plants in moist, tall forest in the western Blue Mountains.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17329302 chocolatina Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 2006