''Pterostylis setifera'', commonly known as the bristly rustyhood or sikh's whiskers, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It has a rosette of leaves and four to ten translucent white, green and brown flowers which have an insect-like labellum with long, bristly hairs.

Description

''Pterostylis setifera'', 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 ten egg-shaped leaves at the base of the flowering spike, each leaf long and wide. Between two and ten transparent white flowers with green and light brown markings and about long are borne on a flowering spike tall. Five to eight stem leaves are 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 over the column with the dorsal sepal having an upturned point about long. The lateral sepals turn downwards, joined to each other for about half their length and are much wider than the hood. They have thread-like tips long and curve forwards and away from each other. The labellum is lance-shaped, long and about wide. There are 10 to 15 bristles up to long on each side of the labellum and many short bristles on the "head" end. Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis setifera'' was first formally described in 1985 by Mark Clements, I.G. Matthias and David Jones from a specimen collected in the Ingalba Nature Reserve in Temora. The description was published in the '' Kew Bulletin''. 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 ...

(''setifera'') is a Latin word meaning "bearing bristles".

Distribution and habitat

The bristly rustyhood grows in a variety of habitats including among rocks and in mallee vegetation. It occurs south from Narrabri in New South Wales and in scattered populations between

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and Rushworth in Victoria. It is only found the Murray botanical region in South Australia and is rare in both Victoria and South Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15493322 setifera Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Queensland Orchids of South Australia Orchids of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1985