Slender rufous greenhood facts for kids

The Pterostylis macrosceles, also known as the slender rufous greenhood, is a special plant. It belongs to the orchid family and grows only in the south-west part of Western Australia. This means it is endemic to that area.

Both young and mature plants have a group of leaves that look like a circle, called a rosette. When the plant flowers, it grows between four and eight white flowers. These flowers have green or brown lines and a small, insect-like part called a labellum. You can tell this greenhood apart from others by the very long, thin, thread-like tips on its sepals.

What Does the Slender Rufous Greenhood Look Like?

The slender rufous greenhood is a plant that grows from an underground tuber. It is a perennial plant, meaning it lives for more than two years. It's also deciduous, so its leaves fall off at certain times. The plant's leaf rosette can be about 40–80 mm (2–3 in) wide.

When the plant is ready to flower, a stem grows from the center of the rosette. This stem can be 100–350 mm (4–10 in) tall. Usually, the rosette leaves have dried up by the time the flowers appear. Each stem holds between four and eight or more flowers. These flowers are a see-through white color with green or brown stripes. They lean forward and are about 30–50 mm (1–2 in) long and 10–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) wide.

Flower Parts: Sepals and Petals

The top sepal (called the dorsal sepal) and the petals join together. They form a hood, or "galea," over the central part of the flower called the column. The dorsal sepal has a long, narrow tip. The two side sepals (called lateral sepals) point downwards. They suddenly become very thin and long, like threads. These long, thread-like tips are a special feature of this orchid.

The labellum, which is a part of the flower that often looks like a landing pad for insects, is thick and dark brown. It's also hairy and looks a bit like an insect itself! This orchid usually flowers from September to October.

How This Orchid Got Its Name

This greenhood orchid was first officially described in 2014. Two botanists, David Jones and Christopher French, gave it the name Oligochaetochilus macrosceles. They found a sample of the plant near Yellowdine. Their description was published in a magazine called Australian Orchid Review.

However, most plant scientists (taxonomists) don't think Oligochaetochilus is a separate group from Pterostylis. So, in 2015, David Jones changed the name to Pterostylis macrosceles. This change allowed for different scientific opinions about how to group these plants.

The second part of the name, macrosceles, comes from two Ancient Greek words. Makros means "long," and skelos means "leg." This name refers to the unusually long, leg-like tips on the sepals of the flower.

Where the Slender Rufous Greenhood Lives

The slender rufous greenhood usually grows in shallow soil. You can often find it on granite rocks that stick out of the ground. It lives in an area between Goomalling and Queen Victoria Rocks, which is south of Coolgardie. This area covers several different natural regions in Western Australia, including the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Mallee, and Yalgoo biogeographic regions.

Protecting the Slender Rufous Greenhood

The Western Australian Government's Department of Parks and Wildlife has looked at the slender rufous greenhood. They have officially classified it as "not threatened." This means that, for now, there are enough of these plants, and they are not in danger of disappearing.