Prasophyllum helophilum is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single tubular green leaf and up to twenty five purplish white and brown flowers. It grows in wet, swampy places on the central tablelands.
Prasophyllum helophilum is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single tube-shaped, dark green leaf which is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Between about ten and twenty five flowers are crowded along a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The flowers are purplish white, brown and white and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. As with others in the genus, the flowers are inverted so that the labellum is above the column rather than below it. The dorsal sepal is elliptic to egg-shaped, about 6sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with three fine, dark lines. The lateral sepals are linear to lance-shaped, about 7sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 and mostly joined to each other. The petals are linear in shape, about 8sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The labellum is white, more or less oblong in shape, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 and turns sharply upwards near its middle. The edges of the labellum are wavy and there is a yellowish-green and dark green callus in its centre. Flowering occurs in January and February.[1]
Prasophyllum helophilum was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones and Dean Rouse. The description was published in Australian Orchid Research from a specimen collected near the Kowmung River in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park.[2] The specific epithet (helophilum) is "derived from the Greek helos, marsh, meadow and -philum, loving, in reference to its marshy or swampy habitat".
This leek orchid is found on the Boyd Plateau in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park and on Mount Werong in the southern part of the Blue Mountains National Park.