Pterostylis coccina, commonly known as the scarlet greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to 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 flat on the ground but the flowering plants have a single flower with leaves on the flowering spike. In this species, the rosette leaves are relatively large and dark green, and the flowers are white, and bluish-green or red. It grows in New South Wales and north-eastern Victoria.
Pterostylis coccina is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and when not flowering, a rosette of two to five egg-shaped, flat, dark green leaves, each leaf 15âÂÂ30 mm long and 10âÂÂ15 mm wide. Flowering plants have a single flower 40âÂÂ50 mm long and 16âÂÂ19 mm wide borne on a spike 80âÂÂ220 mm high with between three and five stem leaves. The flowers are white and bluish-green or white and red and lean forwards. The sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column. The dorsal sepal curves forward with a thread-like tip 12âÂÂ16 mm long. The sepals are held closely against the galea, have erect, thread-like tips 35âÂÂ45 mm long and a relatively flat, slightly protruding sinus between their bases. The labellum is 20âÂÂ25 mm long, about 4 mm wide, reddish-brown, blunt, and curved and protrudes beyond the sinus. Flowering occurs from January to April.
Pterostylis coccina was first formally described in 1878 by Robert FitzGerald and the description was published in Fitzgerald's book, Australian Orchids. The specific epithet (coccina) is a Latin word meaning "red like a berry" or "scarlet".
The scarlet greenhood grows in grassy forest on the higher areas of New South Wales south from Mount Kaputar to north-eastern Victoria.