''Pterostylis leptochila'', commonly known as the Ravensthorpe rufous greenhood or narrow-lipped 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 five large translucent white flowers with olive green and brown lines and markings and a narrow, insect-like labellum. Pterostylis leptochila rosette

Description

''Pterostylis leptochila'' 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 six and ten 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. Up to five or more translucent white, olive green and 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, slightly wider than the galea and suddenly taper to narrow tips long which turn forward and spread apart from each other. The labellum is fleshy, greenish-brown and insect-like, long, about wide and covered with short hairs. Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis leptochila'' was first formally described in 1989 by Mark Clements and David Jones from a specimen collected near

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

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 ...

(''leptochila'') is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''leptos'' meaning "fine" or "small" and ''cheilos'' meaning "lip" or "rim" referring to the narrow labellum of this orchid.

Distribution and habitat

The Ravensthorpe rufous greenhood grows in rocky soil in woodland and shrubland between Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe in the 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 leptochila'' is classified as "not threatened" 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491983 leptochila Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 1989