NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE

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Synonyms: Bunochilus stenosepalus D.L.Jones APNI*

Description: Terrestrial herb

Flowering and non-flowering individuals dimorphic. Rosettes produced on non-flowering plants, on a slender stalk 2–7 cm tall; leaves 3–5, lanceolate, 12–40 mm long by 5–13 mm wide, margins entire or crinkled; petioles to 3 mm long.

Flowering plants 10–35 cm tall. Stem leaves 3–8, 15–70 mm long by 4–7 mm wide. Flowers 1–6, 12–18 mm long by 4–6 mm wide, bright green with prominent darker green stripes, nitid. Dorsal sepal 12–15 mm long when flattened, shallowly curved, tip brown. Synsepalum oblong to narrowly elliptic, 13–17 mm long by 4–6 mm wide, flat or shallowly convex with recurved margins, notched to 4–5 m deep; tips divergent to 3–5 mm apart, orange-brown. Petals obliquely oblong, 13–17 mm long by 3.0–3.5 mm wide, narrow at base were c. 2 mm wide; anterior margin straight or slightly curved; basal flanges large. Labellum oblong to oblong-obovate, 7–9 mm long by 2–3 mm wide, bright green with darker green basal mound and central stripe; surface cells rounded and bead-like, occasionally a few short acicular cells towards the base; basal mound well-developed, erect to incurved, similar colour to lamina; margins incurved; lateral lobes well-developed; midlobe c. 1.5 mm long, narrowly notched, the lobes acuminate; apex upcurved.

Flowering: August–October.

Distribution and occurrence: Central-western New South Wales between Orange and Cowra, at 320–600 m elevation.

On sheltered slopes, gullies and ridges among shrubs and tussocks in low-stature forest and open woodland dominated by Eucalyptus and Callitris, often in shallow soils.
NSW subdivisions: CT, CWS

AVH map***

Pterostylis stenosepala shares with P. smaragdyna the bright green labellum, among other characters, and the two species are similar. Pterostylis stenosepala can be distinguished from P. smaragdyna by having lateral sepals narrower than the galea (equal to or wider than the galea in P. smaragdyna).