''Pterostylis erecta'', commonly known as the upright maroonhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Flowering plants have a rosette of four to seven stalked, dark green, crinkled leaves and a greenish to reddish-brown flower with a gap between the

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 and lateral sepals. It occurs in New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland.

Description

''Pterostylis erecta'' 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. Flowering plants have a rosette of between four and seven stalked, dark green, crinkled leaves, each leaf 15–50 mm long and 10–25 mm wide. A single flower 18–22 mm long and 5–7 mm wide is borne on a spike 150–350 mm high. The flowers are greenish to reddish brown or dark chocolate brown. The dorsal sepal and petals 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. ...

but the dorsal sepal is longer than the petals and has a sharp point on its end. There is a wide gap between the petals and the lateral sepals and the sinus between the lateral sepals has a central notch and bulges slightly forward. The labellum is 6–7 mm long, about 2 mm wide, brown, blunt and just visible above the sinus. Flowering occurs from August to September.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis erecta'' was first formally described in 1958 by

Trevor Edgar Hunt Trevor ( Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', meaning "large, big". The Cornish langua ...

from a specimen collected near Samford in Queensland. The description was published in ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland ''Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland'' is a multidisciplinary scientific journal published by The Royal Society of Queensland The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884 from the Queensland Philo ...

''. 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 ...

(''erecta'') is a Latin word meaning "upright".

Distribution and habitat

The upright maroonhood grows mainly in coastal and near coastal forest north from

Moruya Moruya is a town located on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River. The Princes Highway runs through the town that is about south of Sydney and from Canberra. At the , Moruya had a population of 4 ...

in New South Wales to south-eastern Queensland.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491387 erecta Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1958