''Pterostylis tenuis'' commonly known as the smooth leafy greenhood is a plant in the orchid family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk. Flowering plants lack a rosette but have up to four shiny, translucent green flowers on a flowering stem with three to six stem leaves.

Description

''Pterostylis tenuis'', is a terrestrial,

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between three and seven leaves, each leaf long and wide on a stalk high. Flowering plants have up to four translucent dark green flowers with darker markings on a flowering spike high. The flowering spike has between three and six stem leaves which are long and wide. The flowers are long, wide. The dorsal

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

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 joined to form a hood over the column with the dorsal sepal having a brown or green tip. The lateral sepals turn downwards and are long, wide and joined to each other for more than half their length. The labellum is long, wide and light brown with a darker brown stripe along its mid-line. Flowering occurs in September and October.

Taxonomy and naming

The smooth leafy greenhood was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones who gave it the name ''Bunochilus tenuis'' and published the description in ''Australian Orchid Research'' from a specimen collected in the Cadia Valley. In 2010,

Gary Backhouse Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

changed the name to ''Pterostylis tenuis''. 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 ...

(''tenuis'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word meaning "thin", referring to the narrow labellum of this species.

Distribution and habitat

''Pterostylis tenuis'' grows on slopes and ridges in dry forest between the Torrington and Bathurst areas and is more common in the southerly parts of its range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17329281 tenuis Orchids of New South Wales Plants described in 2006