Genoplesium leptochilum is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to Victoria. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to twenty small reddish-brown to dark purplish flowers. It is known from one population with only six plants in forest near a swamp.
Genoplesium leptochilum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single thin leaf NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. Between five and twenty reddish-brown to dark purplish flowers are densely crowded along a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The flowers lean downward and are NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The flowers and are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and about 1.5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with a small white gland on the tip. The petals are egg-shaped, about 2.5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and also have a small gland on the tip. The labellum is narrow elliptic to narrow oblong, about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. There is an oblong callus in the centre of the labellum and extending nearly to its tip. Flowering occurs in November and December.[1] [2]
This species was first formally described in 2017 by David Jones who gave it the name Corunastylis leptochila in Australian Orchid Review from a specimen collected near Lavers Hill in 1992.[3] In 2019, Julian Shaw changed the name to Genoplesium leptochilum, and the name is accepted by Plants of the World Online.[4] The specific epithet (leptochila) means "slender lip".[5]
Genoplesium leptochilum grows in forest near a swamp near Lavers Hill where only six plants are known.
Corunastylis leptochila is listed as "critically endangered" under the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.