Citation: Hook. f., Fl. Tasm. 2:13 (1858).

Synonymy: P. despectans Hook. F. var. intermedia Ewart & B. Rees, Proc. Roy. Soc. Vic. n.s. 23:113 (1910).

Common name: Sharp midge-orchid.

Description:
A slender plant, 5-20 cm high; leaf sheathing the stem for most of its length, free lamina short, bract-like.

Flowers small, deflexed, few to 40, variable in colour, a pale yellowish-green, purplish or brownish; ovary curved outwards, turgid to narrow-oblong, convex, very shortly stalked; a small bracteole at the base; dorsal sepal broadly ovate, acuminate, c. 2 mm long, deeply concave; lateral sepals 2.5-4.5 mm long, falcate, lanceolate, acuminate, cylindrical, united at the base, which is rather broad; petals ovate-lanceolate, very acute, 2-3 mm long; labellum inconspicuous, narrow-lanceolate or lanceolate, recurved, 3-3.5 mm long, articulated on a short broad claw attached to the dark-coloured projecting base of the column, the tip tapering into a long acumen; callus plate raised, comparatively broad, occupying the full width of the narrow upper portion; a narrow central longitudinal channel sometimes traversing the centre; membranous part very narrow, thin, margins minutely and irregularly serrulate or quite entire; column c. 1.5 mm long; appendages glabrous, subulate, falcate, usually exceeding the anther, with a small rounded inner lobe of variable size at the base; anther-point of medium length; pollinia 2, 2-lobed; caudicle about half the length of the pollinia; rostellum 2-fid, much shorter than the anther; stigma ovate.

Published illustration: Curtis (1980) Student's flora of Tasmania 4A:pl. 1; Woolcock (1984) Australian terrestrial orchids, pl. 45A.

Distribution:  Occurs singly or in small groups in damp sand in swampy heathland or Eucalyptus baxteri forest and restricted to a single location in this State.   N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Feb. — April.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: A putative hybrid has been reported with P. archeri (SE region).

Author: Not yet available