''Pterostylis concava'', commonly known as the pouched greenhood
or cupped banded greenhood,
is a plant in the orchid family
Orchidaceae and is
endemic to the
south-west
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
of
Western Australia. The plants either have a
rosette of leaves in the years when not flowering or stem leaves on a flowering spike. When flowering, it has up to ten or more flowers which are dark reddish-brown, sometimes green and white with deeply cupped
lateral sepals. It is an uncommon orchid, mostly found between
Bindoon and
Mount Barker.
Description
''Pterostylis concava'', 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. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between four and eight leaves, each leaf long and wide on a stem tall. When flowering, there are ten or more dark reddish-brown, green or green and white flowers borne on a flowering spike high. The flowering spike has between three and nine stem leaves which are long and wide. The flowers are long, 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 form a hood called the "galea" over the column. The lateral sepals turn downwards, are deeply dished, long, wide and joined at their base. The
labellum is dark brown, hairy and insect-like, about long, wide and flicks upwards when touched. Flowering occurs from June to early September.
Taxonomy and naming
''Pterostylis concava'' was first formally described in 1989 by
David Jones and
Mark Clements and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research'' from a specimen collected between
Boyup Brook and
Cranbrook.
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 ...
(''concava'') is a
Latin word meaning "hollowed" or "arched inward"
referring to the dished lateral sepals.
Distribution and habitat
The pouched greenhood grows in woodland and forest, usually in moist, sheltered locations between Bindoon and Mount Barker with a
disjunct population east of
Esperance.
It occurs in the
Avon Wheatbelt,
Esperance Plains,
Jarrah Forest,
Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
and
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...
biogeographic regions
A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions.
De ...
.
Conservation
''Pterostylis concava'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia
Department of Parks and Wildlife
The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491767, from2=Q52083154
concava
Endemic orchids of Australia
Orchids of Western Australia
Plants described in 1989