Blue Mountains leafy greenhood facts for kids

The Blue Mountains leafy greenhood (scientific name: Pterostylis lineata) is a special type of orchid. You can only find this plant in New South Wales, Australia. It's unique because the plants that are flowering look different from those that aren't. Plants without flowers have a circle of leaves called a rosette. But flowering plants have a tall stem with up to seven dark green flowers. These flowers have cool see-through parts, like little windows! The bottom part of the flower, called the labellum, is light brown with a black line down the middle.

What it Looks Like

The Blue Mountains leafy greenhood is a plant that grows from an underground tuber. It's a perennial plant, meaning it lives for more than two years. It's also deciduous, so it loses its leaves at certain times.

If the plant is not flowering, it has a rosette (a circular group) of four to six leaves. Each leaf is about 1 to 4.5 centimeters (0.4 to 1.8 inches) long. These leaves grow on a short stalk that is about 2 to 10 centimeters (0.8 to 3.9 inches) tall.

When the plant is flowering, it doesn't have a rosette. Instead, it grows a tall stem, about 15 to 40 centimeters (5.9 to 15.7 inches) high. This stem can have up to seven dark green flowers. These flowers have clear, see-through sections. Each flower is about 1.7 to 2 centimeters (0.7 to 0.8 inches) long and 0.5 to 0.7 centimeters (0.2 to 0.3 inches) wide.

The top part of the flower, called the "galea," looks like a hood. It's formed by the top sepal and two petals joining together. The two side sepals point downwards. They are about 1.2 to 1.3 centimeters (0.5 inches) long and partly joined together. The labellum is the special lip-like part of the flower. It's about 0.6 to 0.7 centimeters (0.2 to 0.3 inches) long and light brown. It has a distinct black stripe down its middle. You can see these orchids flowering from August to October.

How it Got its Name

The Blue Mountains leafy greenhood was first officially described in 2006. A botanist named David Jones gave it the scientific name Bunochilus lineatus. He wrote about it in a publication called Australian Orchid Research. The plant he studied was found near Woodford in the Blue Mountains.

Later, in 2010, another botanist, Gary Backhouse, changed its name to Pterostylis lineata. The second part of its scientific name, lineata, comes from a Latin word. It means "marked with a linear line," which refers to the black stripe on the flower's labellum.

Where it Lives

You can find Pterostylis lineata growing in wet forests. It prefers moist soil. Its habitat stretches from the western side of the Blue Mountains all the way to Lithgow. It also grows in the southern part of the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales.