Pterostylis spathulata, commonly known as the spoon-lipped rufous greenhood or Moora rustyhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a relatively large rosette of leaves. Flowering plants also have up to ten or more white and green or brown flowers with fine, upturned tips on the lateral sepals and a spoon-shaped, insect-like labellum.
Pterostylis spathulata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a rosette of between six and ten leaves. The leaves are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Flowering plants have a rosette at the base of the flowering stem but the leaves are usually withered by flowering time. Up to ten or more white and green or brown flowers are borne on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The flowers lean forward and are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The dorsal sepal and petals form a hood or "galea" over the column with the dorsal sepal having a thread-like tip NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The lateral sepals turn downwards, the same width as the galea, deeply dished, hairy and suddenly taper to narrow tips NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long which turn forward and upward. The labellum is cup-shaped and insect-like, about 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with six to eight long hairs on each side of the "body". Flowering occurs from September to November.[1] [2] [3]
Pterostylis spathulata was first formally described in 1989 by Mark Clements from a specimen collected near Moora and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research.[4] The specific epithet (spathulata) is derived from the Latin word spatha meaning "spoon"[5] referring to the spoon-shaped labellum of this orchid.
The spoon-lipped rufous greenhood grows in woodland and shrubland and on granite outcrops between Mullewa and the Fitzgerald River in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Mallee, Murchison, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo biogeographic regions.
Pterostylis spathulata is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.