Common name: Black-stripe Greenhood
Pterostylis melagramma D.L.Jones APNI* Synonyms: Bunochilus melagrammus (D.L.Jones) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. APNI*
Description: Terrestrial herb
Rosette stalk 5–100 mm long; leaves 3 to 6, ovate to lanceolate to elliptic, 10–50 mm long by 4–8 mm wide, margins entire and plane or crinkled; petioles to 5 mm long.
Flowering plants 15–80 cm tall, stem leaves 5 to 7, linear-lanceolate, 55–80 mm long by 5–10 mm wide. Flowers 1–20, porrect, closely spaced, 12–15 mm long by 5.5–7.0 mm wide, translucent pale green with indistinct darker green stripes; sepal tips green to light brown. Dorsal sepal 12–16 mm long when flattened, shallowly curved. Synsepalum elliptical, 9–12 mm long by 5.5–7.0 mm wide, flat, notched to 3.0–4.0 mm deep; margins curved, tips divergent to 3–4 mm apart. Petals obliquely oblong, narrow at base where c. 0.5 mm wide, 10–13 mm long by 2.5–3.0 mm wide; anterior margin straight or shallowly curved, basal flanges narrow and elongate. Labellum oblong to oblong-obovate, 5.0–6.0 mm long by 2.0–2.5 mm wide, tawny, brownish, cread or wellowish with a brown to black basal mound and central stripe; surface cells round and bead-like, with numerous acicular cells to 0.5 mm long toward the base; basal mound c. 1.5 mm high, prominent, erect, obtuse; margins parallel; lateral lobes well-developed; midlobe c. 1 mm long, shortly notched, the lobes acute; apex upcurved.
Flowering: July–October
Distribution and occurrence: Southern Coast of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. The paucity of records from New South Wales contrasts with a wide distribution in Victoria and Tasmania, and suggests confusion with another species in our state.
NSW subdivisions: SC
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas. S.A.
Text by Matt A.M. Renner (12 Dec 2019) based on Jones (2006) Taxon concept: Jones DL (2006) Towards a revision of Bunochilus D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. Australian Orchid Research 5: 112–142. Backhouse GN (2007) A new name in the terrestrial orchid genus Pterostylis R.Br. (Orchidaceae) for Victoria. The Victorian Naturalist 124(6): 341.
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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