Pterostylis viriosa, commonly known as the Adelaide Hills banded greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to South Australia. Flowering plants have up several green flowers with faint white stripes. The flowers have an insect-like labellum which is green with a dark green mound on its upper end. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a stalk, but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having several stem leaves.

Adelaide Hills banded greenhood
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species:
P. viriosa
Binomial name
Pterostylis viriosa
Synonyms[1]

Bunochilus viriosus D.L.Jones

Description

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Pterostylis viriosa, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk. Flowering plants have up to several green flowers with faint white stripes on a flowering spike up to 800 mm (30 in) high. The flowering spike lacks a rosett but has a small number of stem leaves. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column. The petals have a wide, transparent flange on their outer edges. The lateral sepals turn downwards and are joined for most of their length before tapering to triangular tips. The labellum is insect-like and hairy with a dark green mound on the "head" end and a dark green mid-line. Flowering occurs from late July to early September.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

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This greenhood was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones and given the name Bunochilus viriosus. The description was published in Australian Orchid Research from a specimen collected in the Belair National Park.[4] In 2008 Robert Bates changed the name to Pterostylis viriosa.[5] The specific epithet (viriosa) is a Latin word meaning "robust" or "strong",[6] referring to the robust nature of this orchid and to its large flowers.[3]

Distribution

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The Adelaide Hills banded greenhood occurs in the Fleurieu (KAN02), Mount Lofty Ranges (FLB01), Central Flinders (FLB06) and Talia (EYB04) biogeographic regions of South Australia.[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Pterostylis viriosa". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. ^ "Common native orchids of the Adelaide Hills" (PDF). Government of South Australia Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b Jones, David L. (2006). "New taxa of Australasian Orchidaceae". Australian Orchid Research. 5: 129–130.
  4. ^ "Bunochilus viriosus". APNI. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Pterostylis viriosa". APNI. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  6. ^ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 766.
  7. ^ "Pterostylis viriosa (Orchidaceae)". Government of South Australia Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 23 July 2017.