NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE

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Synonyms: Hymenochilus crassicaulis D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. APNI*

Description: Terrestrial herb.

Leaves 5–8; lamina broadly ovate to elliptic, 25–45 mm long by 10–25 mm wide, greyish green; margins entire; apex acute to obtuse.

Scape 10–25 cm tall, 4–6 mm diameter, 5–18 flowered. Sterile bracts 4–6, loosely sheathing, oblong-elliptic, 12–30 mm long by 7–11 mm wide, acuminate. Fertile bracts similar, closely sheathing. Pedicels c. 6 mm long, straight, slender. Ovaries oblong-elliptic, 4–6 mm long, c. 2 mm wide. Flowers porrect, crowded, 9–11 mm long by 5.0–5.5 mm wide, bluish-green and white with prominent darker green stripes. Dorsal sepal 8–11 mm long by 5–7 mm wide, slightly gibbous at the base, nearly straight or shallowly curved for most its length, abruptly decurved near the apex. Lateral sepals deflexed, saccate, dorsally gibbous, when flattened 6.0–7.5 mm long by 6–8 mm wide; points subacute, c. 4 mm apart. Petals asymmetrical, more or less oblong, 7–8 mm long and c. 3.0–4.5 mm wide; dorsal margin strongly thickened, dark green, a dorsal gibbosity above the middle; lamina translucent green with darker veins; ventral margin irregular. Labellum irritable, on a ligulate claw c. 1.4 mm long by 1.0 mm wide, whitish green with a darker appendage. Labellum lamina elliptic, 2.3–2.7 mm long by 2.2–2.5 mm wide, membranous; apex broadly rounded, emarginate. Basal appendage recurved at right angles, dark green, oblong, c. 1.0–1.5 mm long by 1.2 mm wide and c. 1 mm thick, margins dark green, thickened; central ridge thick, raised above the margins, ending in a beak 2–3 mm long. Callus a thickened, tapered, channelled medial ridge.

Habitat Photo Lachlan Copeland

Habit Photo Lachlan Copeland

Flower Photo Lachlan Copeland

Flowering: November–January

Distribution and occurrence: Southern New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria at elevations between 1050–1850 m.

Grows among grass tussocks and sedges in subalpine grassland and herbfields in well-drained to seasonally moist sites.
NSW subdivisions: ST
Other Australian states: Vic.

AVH map***

This is essentially a robust morph of Pterostylis cycnocephala distinguished by its larger stature, larger and more numerous leaves, longer and more robust scape, and more numerous flowers, which are strikingly lined in well defined mid- to dark-green lines along the nerves.