Tuncurry Midge orchid (Genoplesium littorale)
Description
Genoplesium littorale, commonly known as the Tuncurry midge orchid, and as Corunastylis littoralis in Australia, is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to thirty small green flowers with a purple-brown labellum. It is only known from fewer than two thousand plants in a small area on the New South Wales North Coast and is critically endangered. Genoplesium littorale is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single thin, dark green leaf, 100–250 mm (4–10 in) long with a reddish base and fused to the flowering stem with the free part 10–18 mm (0.4–0.7 in) long. Between five and thirty green flowers are crowded along a flowering stem 10–30 mm (0.4–1 in) tall. The flowers lean downwards, are about 5 mm (0.2 in) long, 4 mm (0.2 in) wide and inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is about 4 mm (0.16 in) long and 2.5 mm (0.1 in) wide with a pointed tip and hairless edges. The lateral sepals are about 4.5 mm (0.2 in) long, 1 mm (0.04 in) wide, point downwards and spread widely apart from each other. The petals are about 3 mm (0.1 in) long, 1 mm (0.04 in) wide, with a sharply pointed tip and hairless edges. The labellum is purplish brown, oblong, about 2.5 mm (0.1 in) long, 1 mm (0.04 in) wide with a curled, sharply pointed tip and hairless edges. There is a callus in the centre of the labellum and extending almost to its tip. Flowering occurs from March to May
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Asparagales
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Family: Orchidaceae
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Genus: Genoplesium
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