New Zealand Native Orchids

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Pterostylis puberula

Snail Greenhood

Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 21 October 2017. Photo: Bill Campbell
Photo: Bill Campbell
Recorded distribution
Recorded distribution

Plant

To 7cm, small flowered, slender with a rosette of trowel shaped leaves. Stem finely hairy with glistening beads.

Flowers

Small, 10-15mm tall., Dorsal sepal very short, blunt leaving a narrow gape; petals quite broad, noticeably curved in section and unstriped. Lateral sepals with a small flat lobe folded inward at the junction and long, erect part rounded section above ending in blunt tips. Labellum short, not protruding.

Flowering

September - October.

Habitat

Under open scrub and sedges. Northland to Nelson; local, rare.

Conservation

Scattered plants in small widely separated colonies from North Cape to Nelson. Nationally Vulnerable.

Notes

Often with P. tasmanica nearby. Closely similar to Australian plants of the P. nana group.

Key features

Small plant with a distinctive rosette, stubby flower and beady stem.

Photos

Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 21 October 2017. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 28 September 2019. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 10 October 2021. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 10 October 2021. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 28 September 2019. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 28 September 2019. Photo: Bill Campbell
Whatuwhiwhi 21 September 2013. Photo: Bill Campbell
Kaimaumau Wetland 22 September 2022. Photo: Bill Campbell
Whatuwhiwhi 17 October 2018. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 13 August 2016. Photo: Bill Campbell
Tahanga Road, Kaingaroa 13 August 2016. Photo: Bill Campbell
Kaimaumau Wetland 15 August 2022. Photo: Bill Campbell
Kauaeranga Valley - Coromandel. Photo: Eric Scanlen
Photo: Ian St George
Kauaeranga Valley - Coromandel. Photo: Eric Scanlen
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Greenhood orchids (Pterostylis)
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      • Sun orchids (Thelymitra)
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