Genoplesium woollsii, commonly known as the dark midge-orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin, wiry leaf and in autumn has up to thirty five drooping, dark purple flowers on a flowering stem which is fused to the lower part of the leaf.
Genoplesium woollsii is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herb with a single cylindrical, glabrous leaf fused to the flowering stem. The leaf is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and the free part is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and ends below the flowers. Between five and thirty five dark purple flowers with darker streaks are arranged on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The flowers droop forwards, and are about 8sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. As with others in the genus the flowers are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, sharply pointed and with short hairs on the edges. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and diverge from each other. The petals are egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with a pointed tip and short hairs on the edges. The labellum is egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with densely hairy edges and a sharply pointed tip. There is a callus in the centre of the labellum and along about three-quarters of its length. Flowering usually occurs between February and April.[1] [2] [3]
The dark midge orchid was first formally described in 1865 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Prasophyllum woollsii and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'.[4] [5] In 1989, David Jones and Mark Clements changed the name to Genoplesium woollsii.[6]
The dark midge-orchid grows in heath, forest and moss gardens mainly between the Blue Mountains and Batemans Bay.