''Pterostylis parva'', commonly known as the fawn snail orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a small rosette of leaves flat on the ground but the flowering plants have a single flower with leaves on the flowering spike. In this species, the flower is small, fawn, green and white and is similar to '' P. timothyi'' but smaller in stature.

Description

''Pterostylis parva'' 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 when not flowering, a rosette of small bluish green leaves. The rosette is in diameter. Flowering plants have a single fawn, green and white flower long and wide on a flowering stem high. There are one or two stem leaves long and wide on the flowering stem. 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 are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

and the dorsal sepal has a short point. The lateral sepals are held closely against the galea, long and have relatively thick, erect tips. The labellum is small and not visible from outside the flower. Flowering occurs from June to early August.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis parva'' was first formally described in 2015 by David Jones and Christopher French from a specimen collected in the Truslove Nature Reserve near

Grass Patch Grass Patch is a small town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located 79 km north of Esperance on the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway. The town was named after a nearby farm of the same name that had been settled arou ...

and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Review''. 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 ...

(''parva'') is a Latin word meaning "little".

Distribution and habitat

The fawn snail orchid grows in shrubland and woodland between Southern Cross and

Israelite Bay Israelite Bay is a bay and locality on the south coast of Western Australia. Situated in the Shire of Esperance local government area, it lies east of Esperance and the Cape Arid National Park, within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve and the Gr ...

Conservation

''Pterostylis parva'' is listed as "not threatened" by the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

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 en ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q29650859 parva Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 2015