Cape portland greenhood (Pterostylis ziegeleri)
Description
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 ziegeleri, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. It has a rosette of between four and seven, lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves, each leaf 12–20 mm (0.5–0.8 in) long and 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide, lying flat on the ground. Between three and eight translucent pale green flowers with darker green lines are crowded together on a flowering spike 50–100 mm (2–4 in) high with three to six, often overlapping stem leaves. The flowers are about 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide with the dorsal sepal and petals joined to form a hood called the "galea" over the column. The dorsal sepal is gently curved but suddenly curves downward near the tip and is about the same length as the petals. The lateral sepals turn downwards and are about 5 mm (0.2 in) long and wide, fused together for most of their length and cup-shaped with their tips less than 1 mm (0.04 in) apart. The labellum is about 1 mm (0.04 in) long and wide and whitish-green with a dark green, appendage. Flowering occurs in October and November.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Asparagales
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Family: Orchidaceae
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Genus: Pterostylis
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