Pterostylis reflexa, commonly known as the dainty greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves flat on the ground but the flowering plants have a single flower with leaves on the flowering stem. This greenhood has a relatively large white, green and light brown flower with a long, curved dorsal sepal and a protruding labellum.
Pterostylis reflexa is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and when not flowering, a rosette of between three and seven egg-shaped leaves lying flat on the ground. Each leaf is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Flowering plants have a single sickle-shaped flower, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 high with between three and five stem leaves. The flowers are white, green and light brown. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column, the dorsal sepal with a narrow tip NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The lateral sepals are in loose contact with the galea and have erect, thread-like tips NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. There is a curved, V-shaped sinus between their bases. The labellum is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 4sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, reddish-brown and curved with about one-third protruding above the sinus. Flowering occurs from March to June.[1] [2]
Pterostylis reflexa was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[3] [4] The specific epithet (reflexa) is a Latin word meaning "bent or turned back."[5]
The dainty greenhood mainly grows on ridges and slopes in coastal and near-coastal forest between about Taree and Nowra.