Pterostylis stricta, commonly known as the northern greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to Queensland. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering a single translucent white flower with green lines, a reddish-brown tip and a curved, protruding labellum.
Pterostylis stricta is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a rosette of wrinkled leaves. Each leaf is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. When flowering, there is a single white flower with green lines and a reddish-brown tip, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide which is borne on a flowering spike NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 high. The dorsal sepal and petals are fused to form a hood or "galea" over the column, the dorsal sepal about the same length as the petals, all with a sharp point. There is a wide gap at each side of the flower between the petals and lateral sepals. The lateral sepals are erect with a tapering tip NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and there is a broad, bulging sinus between them. The labellum is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 4sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, dark reddish-brown and curved, protruding above the sinus. Flowering occurs from March to July.[1] [2]
Pterostylis stricta was first described in 1972 by Stephen Clemesha and Bruce Gray and the description was published in The Orchadian from a specimen collected near Ravenshoe.[3] The specific epithet (stricta) is a Latin word meaning "draw together", "hold in check" or "bind".[4]
The northern greenhood grows with grasses and in sheltered gullies in forest between Mount Finnigan and Paluma at altitudes of between NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2.