''Pterostylis frenchii'', commonly known as the tuart rufous greenhood, or tuart rustyhood 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. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a relatively large rosette of leaves. Flowering plants also have up to twelve white and green or white and brown flowers which lean forward and have a small, fleshy, insect-like labellum.

Description

''Pterostylis frenchii'' 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 a rosette of between four and twelve leaves. The leaves are long and wide. Flowering plants have a rosette at the base of the flowering stem but the leaves are usually withered by flowering time. Between two and twelve or more translucent white and green or brown flowers which lean forward, long and wide are borne on a flowering spike tall. 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 or "galea" over the column with the dorsal sepal having a narrow tip about long. The lateral sepals turn downwards, are glabrous, about the same width as the galea and suddenly taper to narrow tips long which turn forward and are roughly parallel to each other. The labellum is fleshy, dark brown and insect-like, about long, wide and covered with long and short hairs. Flowering occurs from November to December.

Taxonomy and naming

The tuart rufous greenhood was first formally described in 2004 by David Jones and given the name ''Oligochaetochilus frenchii''. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimen was collected in

Yalgorup National Park Yalgorup National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 105 km south of Perth, and directly south of Mandurah, Western Australia, Mandurah. The park is located on the western edge of the Swan Coastal Plain and contains a chain of ab ...

by Chris French and the description was published in ''The Orchadian''. In 2007 Andrew Brown changed the name to ''Pterostylis frenchii''. 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 ...

(''frenchii'') honours the collector of the type specimen.

Distribution and habitat

This greenhood grows in sandy woodland and shrubland near the coast between Bunbury and Perth in the

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 ...

biogeographic region An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Conservation

''Pterostylis frenchii'' is classified as " Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government

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 ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and known from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15492501 frenchii Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 2004