''Pterostylis insectifera'', commonly known as the insect-lipped rufous greenhood, or leaden rustyhood is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a relatively large rosette of leaves. Flowering plants have a similar rosette and up to eight or more flowers which have long, stiffly-held lateral sepals and a protruding, insect-like labellum.

Description

''Pterostylis insectifera'' 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 five 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 eight or more translucent white, green and dark brown flowers 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 long. The lateral sepals turn downwards, towards the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

and are stiffly-held and narrower than the galea. They 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, long, about wide and has an enlarged "head" end with short bristles and a "body" with eight to twelve longer hairs. Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis insectifera'' was first formally described in 1989 by Mark Clements from a specimen he cultured in the

Australian National Botanic Gardens The Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in , Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Established in 1949, the Gardens is administered by the Australian Government's Departme ...

in 1980. The original material was collected by Clements, east of Hyden and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research''. 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 ...

(''insectifera'') is derived from the Latin ''insectiferum'' meaning 'insect bearing', referring to the insect-like labellum.

Distribution and habitat

The insect-lipped rufous greenhood grows in woodland and shrubland, sometimes on granite outcrops between Karroun Hill, Ravensthorpe and

Norseman The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...

in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains and Mallee

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 insectifera'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491532 insectifera Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 1989