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Synonyms: Bunochilus smaragdynus (D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem.) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. APNI*

Description: Terrestrial herb

Flowering and non-flowering individuals dimorphic. Rosettes produced on non-flowering plants, on a slender stalk 2–5 cm tall; leaves 3–5, linear-lanceolate, 9–35 mm long by 4–8 mm wide, dark green above, smooth and paler beneath, apex acute, sessile or shortly petiolate.

Flowering plants 9–55 cm tall. Stem leaves 5–7, 2–10 cm long by 3–6 mm wide, linear to lanceolate, sessile, obliquely erect, dark green above, paler beneath, margins recurved, apex acute, sheathing at the base. Floral bracts 10–17 mm long by 4–9 mm wide, ovate, acuminate, closely sheathing. Pedicel 5–20 mm long, straight. Ovary 6–7 mm long, dark green, smooth to slightly verrucose. Flowers 1–10, 17–22 mm long, obliquely erect, translucent green with darker green stripes and suffusions, nitid, galea curved throughout, curving downwards from near the middle and then suddenly near the apex; petals with broad proximal flanges which block off the base of the galea. Dorsal sepal 18–22 mm long by 12 mm wide, more or less ovate, broadly inflated in the proximal half then tapered to the apex, apical point c. 1 mm long, brownish. Lateral sepals deflexed, narrow-elliptic, 16–19 mm long by 7–8 mm wide, slightly curved forwards near the apex, innder surface minutely scabrous; sinus narrow, lobes divergent; free points 6–7 mm long by 4–5 mm apart at the apex, green or brown. Petals 15–16 mm long by c. 4 mm wide, weakly falcate, central ridge prominent; proximal posterior flange c. 2 mm across, well-developed, obtuse; distal posterior flange c. 0.5 mm wide; anterior flange 2.5–3.0 mm wide, transparent, margins entire. Labellum c. 8 mm long by 4 mm wide, oblong, emerald green with a dark green basal mound and central callus, mid-lobe paler; basal mound c. 2.5 mm thick, prominent, erect, apex obtuse and covered with beaded siliceous cells, numerous protruding clear, acicular cells to 0.3 mm long on the proximal margins; mid-lobe c. 2 mm long, the apex strongly upcurved, pale green, covered with beaded siliceous cells, densely margined with clear short acicular cells; apex notched for c. 0.5 mm, the lobes divergent.

Flowering: July–August.

Distribution and occurrence: Victoria, reported from southern New South Wales.

Grows in moist flat areas among grass in open forest and also on dry ridges.
NSW subdivisions: ST, SWS
Other Australian states: Vic.

AVH map***

Pterostylis smaragdyna can be distinguished from P. longifolia by the presence of proximal petal flanges which block-off the base of the galea (absent in P. longifolia).