''Pterostylis ferruginea'', commonly known as the Bangham rustyhood, is a plant in the orchid family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the border area between

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and Victoria. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering, up to ten upright, dark green and translucent white flowers which have an insect-like labellum.

Description

''Pterostylis ferruginea'', is a terrestrial,

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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. It has a rosette of between six and ten egg-shaped leaves long and wide. Flowering plants have a rosette at the base of the flowering spike but the leaves are usually withered by flowering time. Between two and ten dark green flowers with translucent white panels and long are borne on a flowering stem up to tall. The flowers are erect and there are between three and eight stem leaves wrapped around the flowering stem. The dorsal

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

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 or "galea" over the column with the dorsal sepal having an upturned, thread-like tip long. The lateral sepals turn downwards with their outer edges rolled inwards, and have tapered tips. The labellum is fleshy, insect-like, about long and wide and has a thickened "head" end with short hairs and four to eight longer hairs on each side of the "body". Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming

This rustyhood orchid was first formally described in 2009 by David Jones who gave it the name ''Oligochaetochilus ferrugineus''. The description was published in ''The Orchadian'' from a specimen collected in the

Padthaway Conservation Park __NOTOC__ Padthaway Conservation Park (formerly the Padthaway National Park) is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's south-east in the gazetted locality of Padthaway about south-east of the state ...

. In 2010

Gary Backhouse Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

changed the name to ''Pterostylis ferruginea''. 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 ...

(''ferruginea'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word meaning "rusty" or "rust-coloured".

Distribution and habitat

The Bangham rustyhood is only known from the

Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Austral ...

area of western Victoria and the far south-east of South Australia where it grows in heathy forest and woodland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17329296 ferruginea Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of South Australia Plants described in 2009