Citation: R. Rogers, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 51:296 (1927).

Synonymy: P. praecox Lindley var. robusta Ewart & Sharman, Proc. R. Soc. Vic. 28:234 (1916); P. alata (Labill.) Reichb. f. var. robusta (Ewart & Sharman) Tovey & P. Morris, Proc. R. Soc. Vic. 35:87 (1922); P. reflexa sensu R. Rogers in J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 151 (1922), non R. Br.; P. scabra Lindley var. robusta (R. Rogers) A.S. George, Nuytsia 1:191 (1971). , Diplodium robustum

Common name: Larger (or sharp-leaved) striped green-hood, red (or green-veined) shell orchid.

Description:
Small but robust, 5-20 cm high, glabrous; radical leaves (not present at flowering) usually 6 or 7, ovate or elliptic-ovate, with a long and slender petiole; in the flowering plant the leaves are cauline, alternate, clasping at the base, rather widely lanceolate, to 5 cm long and up to 8 mm wide, acuminate, usually 4 or 5, including the floral bract, increasing in size from below upwards.

Flower single, erect, bright-green and white with deeper green longitudinal stripes; galea 25-45 cm long, gradually curved forward at the apex; dorsal sepal ending in a long fine point to 5 mm long; petals blunt; lateral sepals (lower lip) erect, conjoined basally for a third of their length, the lobes separated by a very wide truncate sinus with a notch in the middle which is not bulging, the distal part produced into a long filiform erect point, embracing the galea and greatly exceeding it; labellum on a movable claw, irritable, lamina oblong-lanceolate, 8-10 mm long, nearly straight, tapering into a short acute tip, in the erect position reaching the height of the column, dark-green, traversed longitudinally by a raised hardly distinguishable line; basal appendage linear, much incurved (as the letter C), facing the lamina, penicillate distally; column erect, c. 16 mm long, the upper angle of the wing acute, the lower oblong-obtuse with inturned ciliate margins; stigma prominent, 2-lobed, long-elliptical, centrally placed on the column.

Published illustration: Nicholls (1969) Orchids of Australia, p. 313; Gray (1971) Victorian native orchids, 2:65.

Distribution:  Forms small to extensive colonies in rocky places, in forests or scrublands in areas receiving greater than 250 mm mean annual rainfall. Widespread and locally abundant. S.Aust.: FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, SE.   N.S.W.; Vic. Conservation status: native Flowering time: May — Sept.

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

Biology: Putative hybrids have been reported with P. dolichochila (MU).

Author: Not yet available