Citation: Nicholls, Proc. R. Soc. Vic. n.s. 46:33 (1933).

Synonymy: P. fuscum sensu R. Rogers in J. Black Fl. S. Aust. 127 (1922), non R. Br.

Common name: Pale leek-orchid.

Description:
Of slender habit, 15-30 cm high.

Flowers green or yellowish-green, standing well out from the axis of the spike; ovary turgid, relatively large in comparison with the rest of the flower; spike not very crowded; dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate, nearly 6 mm long, generally erect, rarely recurved; lateral sepals rather longer, c. 6.5 mm, quite free, parallel, lanceolate, with usually cylindrical 2-dentate points; petals bluntly linear, c. 6.5 mm long, erect; labellum sessile, ovate-cuneate, 4.5-5 mm long, recurved very nearly at fight angles about the middle; erect part bulging, with entire margins; recurved part acute, with crisped shortly ciliate margins; callus plate triangular, very shortly pubescent, occupying a relatively large part of the lamina, not well marked near the base, increasing in thickness beyond the bend, and almost reaching to the extreme tip; column 1.5-2 mm long, wider than long, usually with a tooth-like appendage at its base just below the stigma; anther erect, without a point, about the same height as the rostellum; lateral appendages very wide and blunt, oblong or almost quadrate, about as high as the anther, free from the stigmatic-plate, with relatively large basal lobes reaching beyond the middle; stigma reniform, just below the short rostellum.

Published illustration: Gray (1971) Victorian native orchids, p. 83.

Distribution:  Occurs singly or in small groups in well grassed open forests. S.Aust.: FR, NL, SL.   ?Vic. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Sept. — Nov.

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

Biology: Resembles green-flowered forms of P. fitzgeraldii which lack 2-dentate lateral sepals and the spur at the base of the column. Plants from Vic. which have been considered to belong to this species are probably referrable to P. brainei or P. fuscum and P. pallidum appears to be endemic to S. Aust. Rogers (1922) determined the S. Aust. plants as P. fuscum and this was at least partly responsible for his naming P. constrictum and P. gracile which are now considered to belong to P. fuscum.

Author: Not yet available