''Pterostylis spathulata'', commonly known as the spoon-lipped rufous greenhood or Moora rustyhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

of Western Australia. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a relatively large rosette of leaves. Flowering plants also have up to ten or more white and green or brown flowers with fine, upturned tips on the lateral sepals and a spoon-shaped, insect-like labellum.

Description

''Pterostylis spathulata'' 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 between six and ten leaves. The leaves are long and wide. Flowering plants have a rosette at the base of the flowering stem but the leaves are usually withered by flowering time. Up to ten or more white and green or brown flowers are borne on a flowering stem tall. The flowers lean forward and are long and wide. 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 thread-like tip long. The lateral sepals turn downwards, the same width as the galea, deeply dished, hairy and suddenly taper to narrow tips long which turn forward and upward. The labellum is cup-shaped and insect-like, about long, wide with six to eight long hairs on each side of the "body". Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis spathulata'' was first formally described in 1989 by Mark Clements from a specimen collected near Moora and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research''. 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 ...

(''spathulata'') is derived from the Latin word ''spatha'' meaning "spoon" referring to the spoon-shaped labellum of this orchid.

Distribution and habitat

The spoon-lipped rufous greenhood grows in woodland and shrubland and on granite outcrops between Mullewa and the

Fitzgerald River The Fitzgerald River is a river in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Surveyor General John Septimus Roe named the river during expeditions in the area in 1848 after the governor of Western Australia of the day, Charles Fitzge ...

in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Mallee, Murchison,

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

and Yalgoo

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

Conservation

''Pterostylis spathulata'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

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 e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15491942 spathulata Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Western Australia Plants described in 1989