Pterostylis stenochila, commonly known as the narrow-lip leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. Flowering plants have up to seven shiny, transparent green flowers with darker green stripes. The flowers have an insect-like labellum which is green with an emerald green stripe along its centre. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a stalk, but flowering plants lack the rosette, instead having five or six stem leaves.
Pterostylis stenochila, is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Non-flowering plants have a rosette of between three and five lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves, each leaf NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide on a stalk NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. Flowering plants have up to seven transparent green flowers with darker green stripes on a flowering spike NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 high. The flowering spike has five or six lance-shaped to egg-shaped stem leaves which are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column with the dorsal sepal having a short point on its tip. The petals have a wide, transparent flange on their outer edges. The lateral sepals turn downwards, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, about 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and joined for part of their length. The labellum is insect-like, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, with an emerald green stripe along it centre and a mound on the "head" end. Flowering occurs from July to September.[1] [2]
Pterostylis stenochila was first formally described in 1998 by David Jones and the description was published in Muelleria from a specimen collected at Brooks Bay near Geeveston.[3] The specific epithet (stenochila) is derived from the Ancient Greek words stenos meaning "narrow"[4] and cheilos meaning "lip", referring to the narrow labellum.
The narrow-lip leafy greenhood grows in heathy forest at altitudes of up to 300sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1.