''Pterostylis wapstrarum'', commonly known as the fleshy 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 ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to fifteen crowded green flowers with darker green veins.

Description

''Pterostylis wapstrarum'', 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. It has a rosette of between four and seven, oblong to egg-shaped leaves, each leaf long and wide, lying flat on the ground. Between five and fifteen green flowers with darker green veins are crowded together on a flowering spike high with four to six stem leaves with their bases wrapped around it. The flowers are about long and wide with 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 joined to form a hood called the "galea" over the column. The dorsal sepal is gently curved but suddenly curves downward near the tip and is about the same length as the petals. The lateral sepals turn downwards and are about long, wide, fused together for most of their length and cup-shaped with their tips about apart. The labellum is about long, wide and whitish-green with a dark green,

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

. Flowering occurs from October to December.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pterostylis wapstrarum'' was first formally described in 1998 by David Jones from a specimen collected near

Pontville Pontville is a rural locality in the local government areas (LGA) of Brighton and Southern Midlands in the Hobart and Central LGA regions of Tasmania. The locality is about north-west of the town of Brighton. The 2016 census has a population of ...

. The description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research'', although as the orthographic variant ''Pterostylis wapstreorum''. 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 ...

(''wapstrarum'') honours Johannes ("Hans") and Annie Wapstra for their assistance to Jones.

Distribution and habitat

The fleshy greenhood grows in grassland and grassy forest near Pontville.

Conservation

''Pterostylis wapstrarum'' is listed as "critically endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and as "endangered" under the Tasmanian Government ''

Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 The ''Threatened Species Protection Act 1995'' (TSP Act), is an act of the Parliament of Tasmania that provides the statute relating to conservation of flora and fauna. Its long title is An Act to provide for the protection and management of th ...

''. The total population of this species is estimated to be fewer than 500 individual plants, none of which is known from a conservation reserve. It is threatened by habitat modification and land clearing, grazing by rabbits, inappropriate fire regimes, weeds, and destruction by the introduced red-legged earth-mite (''

Halotydeus destructor Halotydeus destructor is a species of earth mites in the family of Penthaleidae, first described by Tucker in 1925 as ''Penthaleus destructor''.Tucker, R.W.E. 1925. The Black Sand Mite : Penthaleus destructor n. sp. Entomology Memoirs, Departmen ...

'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15492399 wapstrarum Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Tasmania Plants described in 1998