Genoplesium arrectum

Genoplesium arrectum, commonly known as the erect midge orchid and as Corunastylis arrecta in Australia, is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to twenty small, dark purple flowers. It grows in a montane and subalpine grassland and forest in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.

Description
Genoplesium arrectum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single thin leaf 100-180 mm long and fused to the flowering stem with the free part 10-15 mm long. Between three and twenty dark purple flowers are crowded along a flowering stem 20-35 mm tall and taller than the leaf. The flowers are about 6 mm long, 3 mm wide and are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is a broad egg shape, about 4 mm long and 2.5 mm wide with hairless edges and dark coloured bands. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, about 5 mm long, 1 mm wide, stiffly erect and more or less parallel to each other. The petals are a narrow egg shape, about 3.5 mm long and 1 mm wide with dark coloured bands and hairless edges. The labellum is elliptic to broadly egg-shaped, about 3 mm long, 2 mm wide, thick and fleshy with coarse hairs on its edges. There is an narrow egg-shaped callus in the centre of the labellum and extending three-quarters of the way to its tip. Flowering occurs in December and January.

Taxonomy and naming
Genoplesium arrectum was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen collected near Omeo and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research. In 2002 Jones and Mark Clements changed the name to Corunastylis arrecta. The specific epithet (arrecta) is a Latin word meaning "upright", referring to the stiffly erect lateral sepals.

Distribution and habitat
Genoplesium arrectum grows in grassland and grassy forest at altitudes above 900 m in north-eastern Victoria and in the Australian Capital Territory.