Citation: R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 319 ( 1810).

Synonymy: P. fuscoviride Reader, Victorian Nat. 14:163 (1898); P. tepperi F. Muell. ex Tepper, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 3:32 (1880).

Common name: Mallee midge-orchid, midge-orchid, dwarf leek-orchid.

Description:
Plant slender, 5-25 cm high, tuber globose; stem erect, more or less fleshy, basally encased in a dense fibrous sheath; leaf sheathing the stem for most of its length; raceme of 3-35 evenly spaced flowers, pyramidal owing to the very regular expansion of the flowers from below upwards.

Flowers on short pedicels, deflexed, the ovary usually oblong, curved, with a minute bracteole at the base; dorsal sepal c. 2.5 mm long, broadly hooded, the tip recurved, green or wholly purplish; lateral sepals free or united at the extreme base which is slightly gibbous, 3-3.5 mm long, triangular-lanceolate or lanceolate, cylindrical, often very divergent, the tips erect, greenish; petals triangular-lanceolate, often gland-tipped, equal to or shorter than the dorsal sepal and of the same colour; labellum articulated on a narrow claw from the extreme base of the column, c. 2.5 mm long, ovate-oblong or oblong, apex acute or blunt, the margins entire, lamina dark-purple, glandular; callus plate oblong, slightly raised and reaching to the extreme tip in some flowers, more or less channelled, darker than the narrow membranous lamina; column appendages triangular, chelate, the lobes sometimes almost equal in length, anterior lobe darker, usually larger, crenulate, posterior usually smaller, acuminate; anther point very short, incurved; pollinia 2, 2-lobed, disk viscid, caudicle short; rostellum shorter than the anther, the depression in the apex cup-shaped; stigma ovate or oval.

Published illustration: Hoffman & Brown (1984) Orchids of south-west Australia, p. 266.

Distribution:    All States except the N.T. Occurs singly or in very open, quite extensive populations in calcareous soils in mallee or mallee heathland in areas receiving 250-500 mm mean annual rainfall. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Feb. — May.

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

Biology: This species can easily be confused with P. rufum which is reddish and is mainly confined to hilly, well forested country. Where the two are sympatric apparent hybrids may occur. Another related species P. beaugleholei occurs about 20 km from the border and probably occurred in our SE region before settlement but has gone undetected.

Author: Not yet available