Microtis unifolia

Features

Terrestrial, glabrous, colony forming, fleshy, tuberous bright green to dark green perennial herb. Plants at flowering up to 1 m tall. Tubers globose to ovoid. Stem erect, terete, often striated. Leaf solitary, usually overtopping inflorescence, bright green to dark green, rarely tinged with red near base, closely sheathing stem for much of length, linear-terete, hollow, up to 800 mm long. Inflorescence a raceme up to 300 x 10 mm. Flowers 6-100, up to 4 mm diameter, shortly-stalked and closely spaced, more or less overlapping. Perianth green, segments up to 2.5 mm long, widely spreading, thick and fleshy. Dorsal sepal 3 mm long, broadly ovate, erect or projecting forwards, cucullate, concave, column-embracing, acute with apex usually slightly turned upwards, smaller than ovary at flowering; lateral sepals much shorter and narrower, acute, strongly deflexed, apices tending to coil under. Petals shorter still, obtuse, erect, usually partially hidden under dorsal sepal. Labellum sessile, up to 2.5 mm long, green or yellow-green, oblong, sharply deflexed or decurved, pinched in at about mid-length to form a slight to obvious waste; apex truncate or slightly emarginate, not apiculate though often folded to appear so; margin papillose and usually also crenate and undulate; anterior callus variously developed, verrucose, rather irregular, often raised on a rounded ridge; basal calli dark green, oval, prominent, and usually continuous at sides with narrow band of callus behind transverse, silt-like (not pouched) furrow; labellum standing away from ovary at a very narrow angle. Column short, obtuse, base of column about as broad as stigma, wings mostly membranous throughout. Anther terminal, erect, situated above stigma, hemispherical, pollinia spheroidal, pollen granular. Stigma broadly ovate; rostellum ovate Capsules broadly ovoid, ovoid-ellipsoid, brown when ripe.