Pterostylis erecta
{{Short description|Species of orchid}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2017}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Upright maroonhood
| image = Pterostylis erecta 2.jpg
| image_caption = In Bongil Bongil National Park
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Pterostylis
| species = erecta
| authority = T.E.Hunt{{cite web |title=Pterostylis erecta |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/74562 |website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=11 March 2024}}
| synonyms_ref =
| synonyms =
}}
Pterostylis erecta, commonly known as the upright maroonhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. Flowering plants have a rosette of four to seven stalked, dark green, crinkled leaves and a greenish to reddish-brown flower with a gap between the petals and lateral sepals. It occurs in New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland.
Description
Pterostylis erecta is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Flowering plants have a rosette of between four and seven stalked, dark green, crinkled leaves, each leaf 15–50 mm long and 10–25 mm wide. A single flower 18–22 mm long and 5–7 mm wide is borne on a spike 150–350 mm high. The flowers are greenish to reddish brown or dark chocolate brown. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column but the dorsal sepal is longer than the petals and has a sharp point on its end. There is a wide gap between the petals and the lateral sepals and the sinus between the lateral sepals has a central notch and bulges slightly forward. The labellum is 6–7 mm long, about 2 mm wide, brown, blunt and just visible above the sinus. Flowering occurs from August to September.{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=David L.|title=A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories|date=2006|publisher=New Holland|location=Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.|isbn=978-1877069123|page =302}}{{cite web|last1=Jones|first1=David L.|title=Pterostylis erecta|url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pterostylis~erecta|publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: plantnet|accessdate=15 May 2017}}
Taxonomy and naming
Pterostylis erecta was first formally described in 1958 by Trevor Edgar Hunt from a specimen collected near Samford in Queensland. The description was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland.{{cite web|title=Pterostylis erecta|url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/487190|publisher=APNI|accessdate=15 May 2017}} The specific epithet (erecta) is a Latin word meaning "upright".{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|page = 307}}
Distribution and habitat
The upright maroonhood grows mainly in coastal and near coastal forest north from Moruya in New South Wales to south-eastern Queensland.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons-inline|Pterostylis erecta|Pterostylis erecta}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q15491387}}
Category:Endemic orchids of Australia
Category:Orchids of New South Wales
Category:Orchids of Queensland