Pterostylis tristis

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Midget greenhood
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Diurideae
Subtribe: Pterostylidinae
Genus: Pterostylis
Species:P. tristis
Binomial name
Pterostylis tristis
Colenso [1]
Synonyms [2]

Pterostylis tristis, commonly known as the midget greenhood, is a species of greenhood orchid endemic to New Zealand. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of fleshy leaves lying flat on the ground and flowering plants have up to eight yellowish-green or brownish flowers with pale stripes.

Endemism Ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

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.

New Zealand Country in Oceania

New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Rosette (botany)

In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves or of structures resembling leaves.

Contents

Description

Pterostylis tristis is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a stalked rosette of between five and seven brownish or yellowish-green leaves which are 5–15 mm (0.2–0.6 in) long and 3–10 mm (0.1–0.4 in) wide. Up to eight yellowish-green or brownish striped flowers are borne on a fleshy flowering stem 20–100 mm (0.8–4 in) high with many stem leaves similar to the rosette leaves but smaller. The rosette leaves are usually withered by flowering time. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column. The galea is 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and wide with the dorsal sepal slightly longer than the petals. The lateral sepals are downturned and joined together for most of their length, each with a short point on its end. The labellum is short, broad and blunt with a smooth lobe on the upper end. Flowering occurs from September to January. [3] [4]

Perennial plant Plant that lives for more than two years

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.

Deciduous trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally

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 plant Plant which has no persistent woody stem above ground

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

Pterostylis tristis was first formally described in 1886 by William Colenso from a specimen collected on the south bank of the Waipawa River. The description was published in Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute . [1] [5] The specific epithet (tristis) is a Latin word meaning "sad". [6] (Colenso described the type specimen as "very small, rather dingy-looking".) [5]

William Colenso New Zealand politician

William Colenso was a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician. He attended the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and later wrote an account of the events at Waitangi.

The Waipawa River is a river of southern Hawke's Bay, in New Zealand's eastern North Island. It flows from the slopes of Te Atua Mahuru in the Ruahine Range southeast past the town of Waipawa before joining the Tukituki River.

The Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand was a scientific journal and magazine published by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Before 1933 the society was called the New Zealand Institute, and the journal's name was Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. It was active between 1868 and 1961 and was the most important scientific journal in New Zealand.

Distribution and habitat

The midget greenhood usually grows in open tussock grassland. It occurs on the South Island east of the main ranges south from the Canterbury region. There are a few old records from the North Island and Stewart Island. [3] [4]

South Island Southernmost of the two main islands in New Zealand

The South Island, also officially named Te Waipounamu, is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area; the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres (58,084 sq mi), making it the world's 12th-largest island. It has a temperate climate.

Canterbury, New Zealand Region of New Zealand in South Island

Canterbury is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of 44,508 square kilometres (17,185 sq mi), and is home to a population of 624,000.

North Island The northern of the two main islands of New Zealand

The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island's area is 113,729 square kilometres (43,911 sq mi), making it the world's 14th-largest island. It has a population of 3,749,200.

Related Research Articles

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<i>Pterostylis cobarensis</i> species of plant

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<i>Pterostylis aneba</i> species of plant

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Pterostylis irwinii is a species of greenhood orchid endemic to New Zealand. Flowering plants have erect, linear leaves on the flowering stem while non-flowering plants have a rosette of egg-shaped leaves. There is a single green flower with translucent white stripes and reddish-brown tips.

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Pterostylis venosa, commonly known as a greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to New Zealand and which usually grows in colonies. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of erect to spreading leaves, and flowering plants have a single yellowish-green to dark green flower with white stripes. It is similar to P. humilis.

References

  1. 1 2 "Pterostylis tristis". APNI. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Pterostylis tristis". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. 1 2 de Lange, Peter James. "Pterostylis tristis". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Pterostylis tristis". New Zealand Native Orchid Group. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 Colenso, William (1886). "Newly-discovered indigenous plants". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 18: 271–272. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 675.
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