''Pterostylis saxicola'', commonly known as the Sydney plains rustyhood, or Sydney plains greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It has a rosette of leaves at its base and up to ten reddish-brown flowers with translucent "windows", relatively wide lateral sepals with short-pointed tips and a dark brown, fleshy, insect-like labellum.

Description

''Pterostylis saxicola'', 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. It has a rosette of between five and eight egg-shaped leaves long and wide. Flowering plants have a rosette at the base of the flowering spike but the leaves are usually withered by flowering time. Up to ten reddish-brown flowers with translucent panels and long, wide are borne on a flowering spike tall. The flowers lean forward and there are two to four stem leaves with their bases wrapped around the flowering spike. 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, are wider than the galea and taper to narrow tips long and about apart. The labellum is fleshy, dark brown and insect-like, long, about wide with a shallow channel along its mid-line. The "head" end is thick and has a few short hairs and the "body" has three to five longer hairs on each side. Flowering occurs from August to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis saxicola'' was first formally described in 1997 by David Jones and Mark Clements and the description was published in ''The Orchadian''.

Distribution and habitat

The Sydney plains rustyhood grows in small, shallow soil pockets in flat areas on top of sandstone rock shelves or on mossy rocks in gullies. It is only known from five locations in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

regions between Picnic Point and Picton.

Conservation

''Pterostylis saxicola'' is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999''. The main threats to the species are habitat loss and degradation from development, unrestricted access and grazing, weed invasion and inappropriate fire regimes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15492864 saxicola Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 1997