Prasophyllum innubum
Prasophyllum innubum, commonly known as the Brandy Mary's leek orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to a small region of New South Wales. It has a single tubular, bright green leaf and up to twenty brownish-green, white and purplish flowers. It is a very rare orchid with only about four hundred plants known.
Description
Prasophyllum innubum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single bright green, tube-shaped leaf long and wide. The free part of the leaf is long. Between six and twenty flowers are arranged along a flowering stem long. The flowers are brownish-green, white and purplish and as with others in the genus, are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The ovary is a shiny green oval shape, long at 45° to the flowering stem. The dorsal sepal is egg-shaped to lance-shaped, long, about and points forwards then downwards. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, long, about wide and joined to each other. The petals are more or less linear in shape, long, about wide and have a pink or purplish stripe. The labellum is oblong, white or pink, long, about wide and turns upwards through about 90° near its middle. The edges of the labellum are wavy and there is a green or whitish callus in its centre. Flowering occurs in January and February.
Taxonomy and naming
Prasophyllum innubum was first formally described in 2007 by David Jones and the description was published in The Orchadian from a specimen collected near Brandy Marys in the Bago State Forest near Blowering. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "unmarried".
Distribution and habitat
Brandy Mary's leek orchid grows on stream edges in a small area near Cabramurra and Talbingo.
Conservation
Prasophyllum innubum is listed as "Critically Endangered" under the Commonwealth Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Act and the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. The main threats to the population are logging, changes in drainage patterns due to dam water storage, grazing by livestock, feral horses and pigs and weed invasion. The population is not in a conservation reserve.