Pterostylis pedunculata, commonly known as the upright maroonhood, is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. Flowering plants have a rosette of two to six stalked leaves and a single green flower which is white near its base and tinged with reddish brown to black and with a gap between the petals and sepals. It is common and widespread in a range of habitats.
Pterostylis pedunculata is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber. Flowering plants have a rosette of between two and six stalked leaves, each leaf 10âÂÂ65 mm long and 5âÂÂ20 mm wide. A single flower 15âÂÂ20 mm long and 5âÂÂ7 mm wide is borne on a spike 60âÂÂ250 mm high. The flowers are green, white near the base with reddish-brown to black tinges near the tip. The sepal and petals are fused, forming a hood or "galea" over the column but the dorsal sepal is slightly longer than the petals and has a sharp point on its end. There is a gap between the petals and the lateral sepals, which have thread-like tips 16âÂÂ30 mm long. The sinus between the lateral sepals has a deep, V-shaped notch in the centre. The labellum is 5âÂÂ7 mm long, about 3 mm wide, reddish-brown, egg-shaped, straight and just visible above the sinus. Flowering occurs from July to November.
Pterostylis pedunculata was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in the Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. The specific epithet (pedunculata) is a Latin word meaning "small, slender stalk".
The maroonhood is widespread and common in moist, sheltered places in forest but also grows in coastal scrub. It is found from south-eastern Queensland to south-eastern South Australia and to Tasmania. In New South Wales it mostly occurs in coastal and near-coastal districts but extends as far inland as the Australian Capital Territory.