Blue-tongued greenhood | |
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Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
Tribe: | Cranichideae |
Genus: | Pterostylis |
Species: | P. dubia
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Binomial name | |
Pterostylis dubia |
Pterostylis dubia, commonly known as the blue-tongued greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It has a rosette of fleshy leaves at its base and a dark green and white flower with narrow petals and a dark blue-green labellum.
Pterostylis dubia, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. It has a rosette of leaves which are 15–60 mm (0.6–2 in) long, 8–20 mm (0.3–0.8 in) wide and have a stalk. Flowering plant have a single dark green and white flower 20–26 mm (0.8–1 in) long and 9–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) wide is borne on a flowering stem 80–200 mm (3–8 in) tall with stalkless stem leaves. The dorsal sepal and petals are joined, forming a hood called the "galea" over the column. The petals are not flared and are similar in length to the dorsal sepal which ends in a point. There is a wide gap at each side of the flower between the galea and the lateral sepals. The lateral sepals are erect and have a tapering tip, 14–22 mm (0.6–0.9 in) long, only slightly taller than the galea and there is a notch in the bulging sinus between them. The labellum is 13–17 mm (0.5–0.7 in) long, about 3 mm (0.1 in) wide, dark bluish-green, curved and protrudes prominently above the sinus. Flowering occurs from November to January. [2] [3]
Pterostylis dubia was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. [1] [4] The specific epithet (dubia) is a Latin word meaning "wavering", "uncertain" or "doubtful". [5]
The blue-tongued greenhood grows in wet forest at altitudes above 500 m (1,600 ft) in central and southern Tasmania. [2] [3]