Pterostylis acuminata, commonly known as the sharp greenhood or pointed greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a rosette of leaves and a single green and white flower, leaning forward with a brown point on the end of the labellum.
Pterostylis acuminata has a rosette of between three and six dark green, oblong leaves, each leaf NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. A single green and white flower is borne on a flowering spike NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 high. The flowers are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and lean forward or "nod". The dorsal sepal and petals are joined and curve forward forming a hood over the column. The tip of the hood is sharply pointed and brownish. There is a broad, bulging gap in the sinus between the lateral sepals and a large gap between the lateral sepals and petals. The lateral sepals have thread-like tips NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The labellum protrudes through the sinus and is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 4sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, curved, reddish-brown and pointed. Flowering occurs between March and May.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Pterostylis acuminata was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[5] [6] The specific epithet (acuminata) is a Latin word meaning "sharpened" or "pointed".[7]
The sharp greenhood grows in coastal forest and heath in Queensland and New South Wales. There is also an isolated population in far eastern Victoria.