''Genoplesium confertum'', commonly known as the crowded midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid Endemism, endemic to the south-east of Queensland. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to sixty small, densely crowded, reddish and green flowers and grows in coastal heath.

Description

''Genoplesium confertum'' is a terrestrial, Perennial plant, perennial, deciduous, Herbaceous plant, herb with an underground tuber and a single thin leaf long, about wide and fused to the flowering stem with the free part long. Between ten and sixty flowers are densely crowded along a flowering stem tall and slightly taller than the leaf. The flowers lean forwards, are reddish with green tips, long and about wide. The flowers are inverted so that the Labellum (botany), labellum is above the Column (botany), column rather than below it. The wikt:dorsal, dorsal sepal is pinkish red, broadly egg-shaped, about long and wide. The wikt:lateral, lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, long, wide, spread apart from each other and have a small whitish Gland (botany), gland on their tip. The petals are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, blackish red, about long and wide with a prominent gland on their tips. The Labellum (botany), labellum is dark red, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, about long, wide, with small teeth on the sides. There is a thick, fleshy Labellum (botany), callus in the centre of the labellum, covering about half of its surface and extending almost to its tip. Flowering occurs between February and May.

Taxonomy and naming

''Genoplesium confertum'' was first formally described in 1991 by David L. Jones (botanist), David Jones from a specimen collected near the road to Rainbow Beach, Queensland, Rainbow Beach in the Great Sandy National Park and the description was published in ''Australian Orchid Research''. In 2002, David Jones and Mark Alwin Clements, Mark Clements changed the name to ''Corunastylis conferta'' but the change is not accepted by the Australian Plant Census. The Botanical name, specific epithet (''conferta'') is a Latin word meaning "crowded", referring to the crowded flowers in this species.

Distribution and habitat

''Genoplesium confertum'' grows in heath on stabilised sand dunes in coastal districts between Fraser Island and Runaway Bay, Queensland, Runaway Bay, including the Great Sandy National Park.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15463817 Genoplesium, confertum Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1991