Pterostylis conferta

Leprechaun greenhood
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Orchidoideae
Genus:	Pterostylis
Species:	P. conferta
Binomial name
	Pterostylis conferta; (D.L.Jones) G.N.Backh. [1]
Synonyms [1]
	Hymenochilus confertus D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem.

Last updated May 03, 2019

Pterostylis conferta, commonly known as the leprechaun greenhood or basalt midget greenhood,^[2] is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Victoria. It has a rosette of leaves at the base of the flowering stem and up to sixteen pale green flowers in a short, crowded spike. It is a very rare orchid, similar to P. mutica , its distribution much reduced by urbanisation and agriculture.

The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family.

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state and its second-most populous state overall, making it the most densely populated state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea to the east, and South Australia to the west.

Description

Pterostylis conferta, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between five and ten, egg-shaped leaves, each leaf 5–25 mm (0.2–1 in) long and 3–8 mm (0.1–0.3 in) wide. Flowering plants have a similar rosette at the base of a flowering stem which is up to 160 mm (6 in) high with between five and sixteen crowded, pale green flowers with darker green stripes. The dorsal sepal and petals are joined to form a hood called the "galea" over the column and which curves forward and then downwards with a pointed tip. The lateral sepals are broadly egg-shaped, turn downwards and are 6–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and wide. They are joined at their bases and their edges are rolled inwards. The labellum is about 3 mm (0.1 in) long and wide, pale green with a dark green appendage. Flowering occurs from October to January.^[3]^[2]

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. Some sources cite perennial plants being plants that live more than three years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials.

In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous (/dɪˈsɪdʒuəs/) 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, after flowering; and to the shedding of ripe fruit.

Herbaceous plants in Botany, frequently shortened to herbs, are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stem above ground. Herb has other meanings in cooking, medicine, and other fields. Herbaceous plants are those plants that do not have woody stems, they include many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials, they include both forbs and graminoids.

Taxonomy and naming

The leprechaun greenhood was first formally described in 2009 by David Jones and given the name Hymenochilus confertus from a specimen collected near Woorndoo. The description was published in Orchadian.^[4] In 2010 Gary Backhouse changed the name to Pterostylis conferta.^[1] The specific epithet (conferta) is a Latin word meaning "pressed together", "crowded", "thick" or "dense".^[5]

David Lloyd Jones is an Australian horticultural botanist and the author of a large number of books and papers, especially on Australian orchids.

Woorndoo is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Moyne local government area, 259 kilometres (161 mi) west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Woorndoo and the surrounding area had a population of 169. The population of the town proper is around 50.

Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus' Species Plantarum of 1753. Botanical nomenclature is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), which replaces the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). Fossil plants are also covered by the code of nomenclature.

Distribution and habitat

Pterostylis conferta used to grow on basalt grassland but is now restricted to a single small population growing on a stony hill.^[3]^[2]

Conservation

This greenhood orchid is classified as "threatened" under the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 .^[2]

The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 is an act of the Victorian government designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Australian state of Victoria for perpetuity. It was the first Australian legislation to deal with such issues.

Related Research Articles

Pterostylis chlorogramma, commonly known as the green-striped leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Victoria. Flowering plants have up to seven translucent green flowers with darker green stripes. The flowers have a green labellum with a darker stripe down the middle. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short, thin stalk but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having five to seven stem leaves.

Pterostylis crassicaulis, commonly known as the alpine swan greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a rosette of leaves and up to 18 bluish-green and white flowers with dark green stripes. The flowers have a labellum with a dark green, beak-like appendage. It is similar to P. cycnocephala but is more robust and grows at higher altitudes.

Pterostylis tunstallii, commonly known as Tunstall's greenhood or granite greenhood is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. Flowering plants have up to ten transparent green flowers which have a dark brown, insect-like labellum with a blackish "head". Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having five to eight stem leaves.

Pterostylis jonesii, commonly known as the montane leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to a small area of south-eastern Australia. Individual plants have either a rosette of three to six leaves or a flowering spike with up to eleven flowers and five to seven stem leaves. The flowers are translucent green with faint darker green lines and have a brownish-yellow labellum with a dark stripe.

Pterostylis multiflora, commonly known as the tall tiny greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. As with similar orchids, plants in flower differ from those that are not. Those not in flower have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground. Plants in flower lack a rosette but have up to twenty tiny green, white, and brown flowers in summer. The flowering stem has up to six stem leaves.

Pterostylis agrestis is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Victoria. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering, up to fourteen transparent green flowers with a blunt, greenish-black appendage on the labellum. It is similar to the black-tip greenhood, Pterostylis bicolor but that species has larger, less crowded flowers and is found in different habitats.

Pterostylis clivicola is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to a small area near the border between New South Wales and Victoria. It has a rosette of leaves and up to fourteen green flowers which have a labellum with a dark green, beak-like appendage.

Pterostylis daintreana, commonly known as Daintree's greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on short stalks but flowering plants have up to ten flowers with rosettes on the side of the flowering spike. The flowers are translucent white with dark green lines and long, downcurved lateral sepals.

Pterostylis depauperata, commonly known as the keeled greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to Queensland. Flowering plants have a rosette of leaves at the base of a flowering stem with a single small white flower with pale green marks, and a few small stem leaves. Non-flowering plants only have a rosette of leaves. All three sepals on the flower have relatively long, thread-like tips.

Pterostylis incognita, commonly known as the Sale greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Victoria. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering, up to twelve crowded flowers on a stem with a rosette at the base. The type specimen was collected near Sale in 1895 but was not formally described or given a name until 2009, by which time it was presumed extinct.

Pterostylis loganii, commonly known as the Logan's leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to a small area near the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Flowering plants have up to five pale green flowers with darker green stripes and brownish tips. The flowers have a brown labellum with a blackish stripe and a blackish mound near its base. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short, thin stalk but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having five to seven stem leaves.

Pterostylis macrosepala is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales where it grows on the central-west slopes. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves flat on the ground but the flowering plants have up to eight translucent green flowers with narrow, dark green stripes and up to ten stem leaves.

Pterostylis prasina, commonly known as the mallee leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to southern continental Australia. Non-flowering have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk, but flowering plants lack the rosette and have up to eight pale green and translucent green flowers with darker green lines. The flowers have a pale green labellum with a darker central line. It is a common and widespread greenhood in parts of Victoria and South Australia.

Pterostylis pratensis, commonly known as the Liawenee greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground. Flowering plants have up to twelve crowded white flowers with prominent green stripes. This greenhood only grows in low, exposed subalpine tussock grassland.

Pterostylis rubenachii, commonly known as the Arthur River greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to seven crowded, transparent green flowers with darker green stripes.

Pterostylis spissa, commonly known as the cygnet greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Victoria. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to twelve small, green flowers which have a green labellum with a dark green beak-like appendage.

Pterostylis tanypoda, commonly known as the swan greenhood, is a species of greenhood orchid endemic to New Zealand. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to seven crowded, inconspicuous bluish-green and white-striped flowers.

Pterostylis ziegeleri, commonly known as the Cape Portland greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to eight crowded translucent, pale green flowers with darker green veins.

Pterostylis flavovirens, commonly known as the coastal banded greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae that is endemic to South Australia. As with other similar orchids, non-flowering plants differ from those in flower. Flowering plants have up to seven pale to translucent green flowers with darker green stripes. The flowers have an insect-like labellum which is yellowish green with a slightly darker green stripe along its centre. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a stalk, but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having three to six stem leaves.

Pterostylis atrosanguinea, commonly known as the crowded banded greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The plants either have a rosette of leaves in the years when not flowering or stem leaves on a flowering spike. When flowering, it has up to twenty flowers that are dark reddish to blackish brown with translucent white areas. The labellum is dark reddish black and covered with short, stiff hairs.

References

1 2 3 "Pterostylis conferta". APNI. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
1 2 3 4 "Leprechaun greenhood". Biodiversity of the Western Volcanic Plains. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
1 2 Jeanes, Jeff. "Pterostylis conferta". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria: vicflora. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
↑ "Hymenochilus confertus confertus". APNI. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 227.

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[APNI-1] 1 2 3 "Pterostylis conferta". APNI. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

[bwvp-2] 1 2 3 4 "Leprechaun greenhood". Biodiversity of the Western Volcanic Plains. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

[RBGV-3] 1 2 Jeanes, Jeff. "Pterostylis conferta". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria: vicflora. Retrieved 24 June 2017.

[APNI(1)-4] "Hymenochilus confertus confertus". APNI. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

[RWB-5] Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 227.