''Pterostylis procera'', commonly known as the short-lipped greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to Queensland. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering a single translucent white flower with green and reddish markings and a labellum which does not protrude through the lateral sepals.

Description

''Pterostylis procera'' 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 dark green, wrinkled leaves. Each leaf is long and wide. When flowering, there is a single translucent white flower with green and reddish markings, long and wide which is borne on a flowering spike high. 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 to form 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. ...

, the dorsal sepal slightly longer than the petals and sharply pointed. There is a wide gap at each side of the flower between the petals and lateral sepals. The lateral sepals are erect or turned backwards with a tapering tip long and there is a broad bulging sinus with a small notch between them. The labellum does not protrude above the sinus. Flowering occurs from February to May.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis procera'' was first described in 1989 by David Jones and Mark Clements and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research'' from a specimen collected near

Herberton Herberton is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Herberton had a population of 855 people. Geography Herberton is on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. It is situa ...

. 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 ...

(''procera'') is a Latin word meaning "tall", "slender" or "long".

Distribution and habitat

The short-lipped greenhood grows with grasses and shrubs in sheltered gullies between Mount Finnigan and Paluma at altitudes above .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15494179

procera Procera is a hypothetical clade of amphibians that includes salamanders and caecilians but not frogs. A close relationship between salamanders and caecilians is a competing hypothesis to the more widely supported view that salamanders and frogs a ...

Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1989