''Pterostylis metcalfei'', commonly known as Metcalfe's greenhood, or Ebor greenhood is a species of

orchid 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 ...

that 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

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves flat on the ground but the flowering plants have a single flower with leaves on the flowering spike. This greenhood has a dark green and white striped flower and is known from only three locations. It is listed as an endangered species.

Description

''Pterostylis metcalfei'' has a rosette of 3 to 5 leaves, each leaf long, wide, dark green and flat. The flower stem is 1 long and bears a single flower long and wide and shiny, greenish-white with darker green stripes. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

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 ...

is erect at its base but then arches forward, forming a hood over the labellum and has a threadlike tip, long. The labellum is blunt, sharply kinked in the middle and is long and about wide. Flowering occurs from March to May.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis metcalfei'' was first formally described by David L. Jones in 1997 from a specimen collected by Peter Metcalfe on Doughboy Mountain, about south of Wongwibindi station, on the road to

Wollomombi The Wollomombi Falls is a plunge waterfall on the Wollomombi River in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Location and features In the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park approximately due east of Armidale and off the Water ...

, on 8 May 1994. The description was published in ''The Orchadian''. In 2002, Jones and

Clements Clement may refer to: People * Clements (surname) Places * Clements, California, U.S. * Clements, Kansas, U.S. * Clements, Maryland, U.S. * Clements, Minnesota, U.S. * Clements, West Virginia, U.S. * Port Clements, British Columbia, Canada Zoo ...

transferred the species to the genus ''Diplodium'' but the move has not been accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

nor by the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

. 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 ...

(''metcalfei'') honours the collector of the type specimens, Peter Metcalfe.

Distribution and habitat

The species is endemic to the

New England Tablelands bioregion New England Tablelands (code NET), an interim Australian bioregion, is located mainly in New South Wales,granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, growing among grass and shrubs. It is known from only three locations, only one of which is in a national park, so that it is threatened by cattle grazing and trampling.

Conservation status

The Scientific Committee of the Office of Environment and Heritage, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has listed ''P. metcalfei'' as "endangered" under the New South Wales Government '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491952 metcalfei Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 1997 Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)