''Pterostylis elegans'', commonly known as the elegant greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves flat on the ground but flowering plants have a single translucent white and dark green flower with reddish-brown markings near the tip.

Description

''Pterostylis elegans'' 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, a rosette of between two and four leaves, each leaf long and wide. Flowering plants have a single flower long and wide on a stem tall with four or five stem leaves. The flower is translucent white with dark green lines and markings. 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. ...

and which are reddish-brown near their ends. The dorsal sepal has a thread-like tip long. The lateral sepals are held closely against the galea, have erect thread-like tips long and a slightly protruding, notched sinus between their bases. The labellum is long, about wide, curved, dark brown and prominently protruding above the sinus. Flowering occurs from January to April.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis elegans'' was first formally described in 1997 by David Jones from a specimen collected in the Enfield State Forest on the Northern Tablelands. The description was published in ''The Orchadian''. 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 ...

(''elegans'') is a Latin word meaning "tasteful", "choice", "fine" or "select".

Distribution and habitat

The elegant greenhood grows between grasses and small shrubs in woodland and forest between the

Barrington Tops National Park The Barrington Tops National Park is a protected national park located in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Gazetted in 1969, the park is situated between Scone, Singleton, Dungog, Gloucester and East Gresford. The park is part ...

and Walcha.

Conservation

''Pterostylis elegans'' is listed as "vulnerable" under the New South Wales

Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 The ''Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act)'' was enacted by the Parliament of New South Wales in 1995 to protect threatened species, populations and ecological communities in NSW. In 2016 it was replaced by the '' Biodiversity Co ...

. The main threats to the species are weed invasion, feral pig activity and cattle grazing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15500743 elegans Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 1997