Citation: Lindley, Gen. & Sp. Orchid. Pl. 390 (1840).

Synonymy: P. falcata R. Rogers, Proc. R. Soc. Vic. 28:106 (1915).

Common name: Sickle (or forked) green-hood.

Description:
Plant rather slender, glabrous, 15-30 cm high; leaves 4 or 5, basal, occasionally absent, 2-6 cm or more in length, ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, shortly petiolate, passing gradually into the stem bracts; stem bracts 2-4, large and leaf-like, lanceolate, sheathing.

Flower 1, green, very large, to 8 cm from the top of the ovary to the tip of the galea, erect, very acuminate and boldly sickle-shaped; galea with white and green lines and light-brown markings toward the apex; lateral sepals (lower lip) cuneate, erect; the lobes separated by a wide sinus, produced into long filiform points of about the same length as the galea, curving forward high above ~t; labellum considerably longer than the column, 20-25 mm long, dark-green, lanceolate to lanceolate-spathulate, curved forward in its distal quarter so as to protrude through the sinus of the sepals, rather blunt at the tip; on the upper surface of the lamina is a prominent longitudinally raised ridge along the center, with a corresponding narrow groove on the underside; upper surface of lamina convex in section; appendage linear, curved, densely penicillate at the end; column c. 15 mm, not much incurved; wings hatchet-shaped, upper lobe toothed and ciliate, lower lobe obtuse and ciliate; stigma rather long and narrow, oblong-lanceolate, pointed at the upper angle and rounded below.

Published illustration: Cady & Rotherham (1970) Australian native orchids in colour, pl. 6 as P. falcata; Gray (1971) Victorian native orchids 2:62 as P. falcata; Woolcock (1984) Australian terrestrial orchids, pl. 48B.

Distribution:  Forms small colonies in rich moist alluvial soils in dense shade along creeks and around swamps but now very rare in S.Aust.   N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.   New Zealand. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Sept. — Jan.

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

Biology: The type of P. falcata R. Rogers is a very robust plant with falcate floral segments. The type of P. furcata is of smaller plants with shorter less falcate floral segments. Both large and small forms have been collected in S.Aust. Both the putative parent species, P. furcata and P. nutans, occur in S.Aust. in the South East and on Kangaroo Island. Common in cultivation in Adelaide.

Author: Not yet available