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Snake-tongue greenhood

Pterostylis ophioglossa

Snake-tongue greenhood
Photo: Gordon Deans, CC BY 3.0 au

Snake-tongue greenhood is a small terrestrial orchid from eastern Australia that grows from an underground tuber and flowers between April and July. It is a difficult, seldom-cultivated native that needs cool, sheltered, shaded conditions and is best left in the wild.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Orchid
Light
Part shade, Shade
Water
Keep the soil moist during its growing season and reduce watering while the plant is dormant.
Soil
Humus-rich, free-draining woodland soil or leaf litter mix.
Temperature
Cool to mild, about 10–22 °C; protect from heat and frost.
How easy
Hard
Native range
E. Australia
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Pterostylis ophioglossa, commonly known as the snake-tongue greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a rosette of leaves at the base and a single dull green, white and brown flower with a deeply notched labellum.

Where it grows

The snake-tongue greenhood grows in sheltered places in forest and scrub in coastal areas between Sydney in New South Wales and Eungella in Queensland.

Other Pterostylis plants

Tablelands greenhood · Needle-point rustyhood · Pterostylis actites · Sharp greenhood · Long-tongued summer greenhood · Kauri Greenhood · Sutton Grange Greenhood · Striped greenhood · Shy greenhood · Winter Greenhood · Alpine greenhood · Coastal greenhood

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pterostylis ophioglossa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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