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  4. Pterostylis australis

Pterostylis australis

Aorangi Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Aorangi Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
George Sound, Fiordland on gravel outwash fan c. 5-10m a.s.l.<br>Photographer: Alex Fergus, Date taken: 29/11/2017, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Upper Eglinton Valley, Fiordland NP.<br>Photographer: Gillian M. Crowcroft, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
George Sound, Fiordland on gravel outwash fan c. 5-10m a.s.l.<br>Photographer: Alex Fergus, Date taken: 29/11/2017, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 03/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 03/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 03/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Aorangi Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Pterostylis australis.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain.
Upper Eglinton Valley, Fiordland National Park. Jan 1995.<br>Photographer: Gillian M. Crowcroft, Licence: All rights reserved.
Pterostylis australis.<br>Photographer: Department of Conservation, Licence: Public domain.
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Common names

southern greenhood

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Orchids

Flower colours

Green, White

Detailed description

Terrestrial, tuberous, glabrous, spring to summer-green perennial herb forming large colonies through vegetative extension. Plant at flowering 100–250 mm tall. Stem erect, smooth, dark green to reddish green, internodes < leaves. Leaves 4–5, shape changing from base to top of stem; lamina 40–150 × 10–16 mm, dark green to yellow-green, the lowest and those of non-flowering plants, elliptic to broadly elliptic, apex subacute, base subsessile or with a reddish-green winged petiole, margins entire or sometimes finely toothed; mid-stem and upper leaves longer and slightly narrower, more tapered, rarely narrowly lanceolate, margins entire or finely denticulate, 1, 2 or none of the leaves overtopping the flower. Flower solitary, large, dark green to pale green striped with white. Ovary erect. Dorsal sepal 25–45 mm tall, often rather smoothly arcuate but sometimes erect below then sharply horizontal above, apex acuminate often shortly caudate; lateral sepals diverging at a narrow angle, apices strongly reflexed backwards, spreading. Petals shorter than dorsal sepal, acute or acuminate. Labellum basally dark green flushed red or red from mid-section to apex, apex distinctly darker; lamina lanceolate-oblong, slightly arched, broadened almost to middle then narrowing to an obtuse, more or less deflexed, and decurved, pinched tip. Column as tall as labellum; stigma linear, often as broad as column, sometimes overlapped by wings from above.

Similar taxa

Allied to Pterostylis banksii A.Cunn., and sometimes regarded as a form of it. Also close to P. areolata Petrie. It differs from P. banksii by the shorter, broader leaves, much shorter dorsal sepal and consistently arched labellum. From P. areolata it differs by the gradation from the elliptic (rarely broadly elliptic) basal leaves to almost linear-lanceolate mid-stem leaves; usually obviously caudate lateral sepals, and linear stigma

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (present only from the the East Cape area south and becoming more common in the southern third of the island), South Island, Stewart Island/Rakiura.

Habitat

Lowland to subalpine (up to 1200 m a.s.l.) in scrub and tall forest. Generally preferring beech (Nothofagaceae)-dominated forest in the North Island and South Island. Mostly montane in the North Island. Sometimes found in forestry plantations.

Current conservation status

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2023 | Not Threatened

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Orchidaceae

Authority

Pterostylis australis Hook.f.

Synonyms

None

Taxonomic notes

On Stewart Island/Rakiura, especially, this species often has distinctly toothed to finely denticulate leaf margins.

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

November–January

Fruiting

January–April

Propagation technique

Difficult—should not be removed from the wild. Basic orchid mix consists of 2 parts medium coarse sand, ideally clean river sand; 2 parts soil, humus or leaf-mould; 1 part weathered sawdust or rotting wood; 1 part granulated bark. For Pterostylis shade of 50% and pots kept evenly moist.

Other information

Etymology

pterostylis: Winged column

australis: Southern

Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key

Key to native orchids of New Zealand

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

PTEAUS

Chromosome number

2n = 44

Previous conservation statuses

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Not Threatened

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.

Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Moore LB, Edgar E. 1970. Flora of New Zealand, Volume II. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Monocotyledones except Gramineae. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 354 p.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 April 2007: Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1970).

Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Pterostylis australis Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pterostylis-australis/ (Date website was queried)

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