Summer Grasshood

About

Pterostylis decurva, commonly known as the summer greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves but the flowering plants have a single flower with leaves on the flowering spike. This greenhood usually flowers in summer and has a white flower with green stripes and a brownish tinge. It is similar to P. aestiva but has paler green flowers.

How to spot it

Pterostylis decurva is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and when not flowering, a rosette of two to five leaves often held above the ground on a stalk up to 100 mm long. Each leaf is oblong to egg-shaped, 10–30 mm long and 10–20 mm wide. Flowering plants have a single flower 18–25 mm long and 7–9 mm wide borne on a spike 150–300 mm high with four or five stem leaves. The flowers are white with green stripes and a brown tinge in the galea. The dorsal sepal and p

Documented on these trails

Found in

• Namadgi National Park — Canberra & Namadgi National Park hikes