Rimacola

{{Short description|Genus of orchids}} {{Italic title}} {{Speciesbox | name = Green rock orchid | image = Rimacola elliptica.jpg | image_caption = ''Rimacola elliptica'' near [[Wentworth Falls, New South Wales|Wentworth Falls]] | display_parents = 3 | genus = Rimacola | parent_authority = Rupp | species = elliptica | authority = ([[R.Br.]]) [[Herman Rupp|Rupp]]<ref name="WCSP" /> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="WCSP">[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=179093 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]</ref> | synonyms = *''Lyperanthus ellipticus'' R.Br. *''Caladenia elliptica'' (R.Br.) [[Rchb.f.]] *''Megastylis elliptica'' (R.Br.) [[Schltr.]] }}

'''''Rimacola elliptica''''', commonly known as the '''green rock orchid''' or '''green beaks''',<ref name="Jones">{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=David L.|title=A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories|date=2006|publisher=New Holland|location=Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.|isbn=1877069124|pages =284–285}}</ref> is the only species of plant in the [[orchid]] [[genus]] '''''Rimacola''''' and is [[Endemism|endemic]] to [[New South Wales]]. It is an evergreen species which grows in clumps in sandstone cracks and has bright green leaves and in late spring, produces arching flower stems with up to eighteen dull greenish flowers with reddish or brown markings. It only grows near [[Sydney]], mainly in the [[Blue Mountains (New South Wales)|Blue Mountains]] and near [[Fitzroy Falls, New South Wales|Fitzroy Falls]].

==Description== ''Rimacola elliptica'' is an [[evergreen]] [[Perennial plant|perennial]] [[Herbaceous plant|herb]] with a short, branched, erect stem but which lacks a [[tuber]]. It grows in clumps with crowded, lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves {{convert|40-100|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|20-30|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide on a stalk {{convert|10-30|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long. Between six and eighteen green to yellowish flowers with reddish or brown markings, {{convert|18-25|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|16-20|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide are borne on arching or drooping flowering stems {{convert|150-250|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long. The [[wikt:dorsal|dorsal]] [[sepal]] is lance-shaped, {{convert|23-27|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|5-6|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide and the [[wikt:lateral|lateral]] sepals are similar but narrower. The [[petal]]s are {{convert|16-19|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long, about {{convert|2|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide and curved. The [[Labellum (botany)|labellum]] is egg-shaped, white or green with red markings, {{convert|10-12|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|7-8|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide and erect with wavy edges. Flowering occurs in November and December.<ref name="Jones" /><ref name="Pridgeon">{{cite book |editor1=Alec M. Pridgeon |editor2=Phillip J. Cribb |editor3=Mark W. Chase |editor4=Finn N. Rasmussen |title=Genera Orchidacearum (Volume 2) |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, New York |isbn=0198507100 |pages=170–172}}</ref><ref name="RBGS">{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Peter |title=''Rimacola ellliptica'' |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Rimacola~elliptica |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref>

==Taxonomy and naming== The green rock orchid was first formally described in 1810 by [[Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)|Robert Brown]] who gave it the name ''Lyperanthus ellipticus'' and published the description in ''[[Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen]]''.<ref name=APNI1>{{cite web|title=''Lyperanthus ellipticus''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/528153|publisher=APNI|access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="R.Br.">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen |date=1810 |location=London |page=325 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21871#page/193/mode/1up |access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref> In 1942 [[Herman Rupp]] changed the name to ''Rimacola elliptica''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Rimacola elliptica''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/reference/apni/38404|publisher=APNI|access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="Rupp">{{cite journal |last1=Rupp |first1=Herman |title=Robert Brown's ''Lyperanthus ellipticus'' |journal=The Victorian Naturalist |date=1942 |volume=58 |issue=12 |pages=187–188 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/139541#page/597/mode/1up |access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref> The genus name (''Rimacola''), given by Rupp, is derived from the [[Latin]] word ''rima'' meaning "cleft" or "fissure"<ref name="RWB">{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>{{rp|164}} and ''-cola'' meaning "dweller".<ref name="Rupp" /><ref name="RWB" />{{rp|217}} The [[Botanical name|specific epithet]] (''ellipticus'') is derived from the Latin word ''ellipsis'' meaning "elliptical".<ref name="RWB"/>{{rp|346}}

==Distribution and habitat== ''Rimacola elliptica'' is mainly found in the Blue Mountains by also occurs [[Disjunct distribution|disjunctly]] near Fitzroy Falls and near the coast north of Sydney. It mainly grows in sandstone fissures and on damp sandstone cliffs, often with mosses and other small plants.<ref name="Jones" /><ref name="Pridgeon" /><ref name="RBGS" />

==See also== * [[List of Orchidaceae genera]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Commons-inline|Rimacola|''Rimacola''}}

[[Category:Flora of New South Wales]] [[Category:Endemic orchids of Australia]] [[Category:Monotypic Orchidoideae genera]] [[Category:Diurideae genera]] [[Category:Megastylidinae]] [[Category:Plants described in 1842]] [[Category:Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)]]