Plants 20-70 cm tall. Rhizome short. Stem glabrous toward base, becoming pubescent above, with 2 or 3 scalelike sheaths near base. Leaves 4-7, ovate-orbicular, ovate, or elliptic-lanceolate, rarely lanceolate, upper ones narrower and lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 3-13 cm long, 1-6 cm wide, glabrous, apex acuminate to long acuminate. Rachis 10-30 cm, pubescent, laxly to subdensely 7-40-flowered; floral bracts foliaceous, linear-lanceolate, lower ones exceeding flowers, becoming shorter above. Flowers usually nodding, resupinate, green or pale purple, out-crossing; pedicel and ovary 10-15 mm, yellow-brown tomentose. Dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate, rarely elliptic, cymbiform, 8-13 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, apex acuminate; lateral sepals ovate-lanceolate, oblique, 9-13 mm long, ca. 4 mm wide, apex acuminate. Petals elliptic, 6.5-8 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, apex acute or obtuse; lip 6-8 mm, without a mesochile; hypochile semiglobose-saccate, 3-4 mm; epichile subtriangular or suboblate, ca. 3 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, veins sometimes thickened near apex, with a pair of semiorbicular, erose lamellae toward base of epichile, apex acute. Column 3-5 mm. Capsule obovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 10 mm, puberulent.

Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz:
Afghanistan (Asia)
Bhutan (Asia)
Canada (North America)
French Guiana (South America)
Kyrgyzstan (Asia)
Kazakhstan (Asia)
Nepal (Asia)
Pakistan (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
Tajikistan (Asia)
United States (North America)
Uzbekistan (Asia)
China (Asia)
India (Asia)

Epipactis helleborine is occurring in Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Hubei, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan of China, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, N Africa, SW Asia, Europe, North America (naturalized).

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Distribution: Northern hemisphere, Mediterranean region, S. W. Asia, Himalaya to Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan up to 300 m. Widespread in the coniferous forests of Pakistan.

Europe, N. Africa, Himalaya (Kashmir to Bhutan), S.E. Tibet, N. Asia.

A plant from Hazara, (Inayat no.23165, E) differs from typical Epipactis helleborine in having a few nearly orbicular leaves on a stout stem and a very dense inflorescence

Epipactis helleborine is known to have been thoroughly naturalized in North America since 1879 (C. A. Luer 1975).  

 Extensive and striking color variations in Epipactis helleborine have led to the description of numerous varieties and forms. Most of the varieties originated in Europe, but the following forms originated in North America. With the exception of forma luteola, which has been noted only from Vermont, the other forms occur randomly throughout the range of the species: forma alba (Webster) B. Boivin, white-flowered form; forma luteola P. M. Brown, yellow-flowered; forma monotropoides (Mousley) Scoggan, albino; forma variegata (Webster) B. Boivin, variegated, the leaves with white and cream markings; forma viridens A. Gray, green-flowered.

Plants slender or robust, up to 70(-100) cm tall. Rhizome short. Stem leafy throughout. Leaves spreading, ovate to ovate-lanceolate. Inflorescence normally densely many-flowered, up to 25-(35) cm long. Bracts lanceolate, lower exceeding flowers, the upper decreasing in size. Flowers from dark olive-green to yellowish-green, tinged ± intensively with red-purple. Sepals campanulate, ovate-lanceolate, up to 12 mm long; petals slightly shorter, ovate, paler green or pinkish. Labellum with cup-shaped hypochile, outside green, inside dark shining olive-brown, with nectar, 4-6 mm long and broad; epichile cordate, up to 5 mm long, the margin slightly crenulate-undulate, with 2 ± rugose bosses at base. Column short, 4-5 mm (including the anther). Ovary pedicelled, glabrous or with some hairs; ripe seed-capsule spreading.

2400-3200 m

Plants 25–80(–100) cm, sparsely to densely pubescent. Leaves 3–10, orbiculate, elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, 4–18 × 1.5–8.5 cm. Inflorescences racemes, loose to moderately dense, commonly 1-sided; floral bracts spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 10–40(–70) mm, often exceeding flowers. Flowers 15–50, small; sepals greenish, often suffused with purple; lateral sepals 10–13 × 5–6 mm, apex oblique; petals ovate, pale green, pink, purple, or yellowish, 9–11 × 4–6 mm; lip indistinctly veined, constricted at middle into 2 parts, proximal part purplish to brownish, deeply concave, not papillose, 9–12 × 8 mm, distal part recurved, pink, broadly triangular-ovate, ± flat to tip, 5 × 5 mm; calli 2, near base, brownish, not rugose; column 3–6 mm; ovary glabrous. Capsules obovoid, 9–14 mm, glabrate to densely pubescent. 2n = 36, 38, 40, 44.

Serapias helleborine Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 949. 1753; Epipactis latifolia (Linnaeus) Allioni

Epipactis helleborine var. helleborine is close relative of Epipactis helleborine var. tangutica, but differs from the latter in its flowers usually 7-40 (vs. 6-10), epichile of lip with a pair of semiorbicular, erose lamellae toward base (vs. a pair of thickened, fleshy wartlike calli toward base).

Growing in forests, grasslands, wooded slopes, streamsides; 200-3600 m.

Flowering Jun--Oct. Moist to dry, rocky, shaded, deciduous to mixed woods; cedar swamps and forested stream margins; often in disturbed places such as lawns, and cracks in concrete sidewalks; 0--1300 m; introduced; B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), Ont., Que.; Ark., Calif., Conn., Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Eurasia; North Africa.

Epipactis helleborine (Broad-Leaved Helleborine) introduced
(the wasp sucks nectar from the flowers; this observation can be found in Luer)

Wasps
Vespidae (Vespinae): Vespula vulgaris sn

Foodplant / parasite
colony of dematiaceous Cladosporium anamorph of Cladosporium parasitises nectar of Epipactis helleborine

Plant / pollenated
dozy, drunken adult of Dolichovespula pollenates or fertilises flower of Epipactis helleborine
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / mycorrhiza
live mycelium of Ectomycorrhizal fungi is mycorrhizal with live root of Epipactis helleborine

Fungus / parasite
live root of Epipactis helleborine parasitises live mycelium of Ectomycorrhizal fungi
Remarks: Other: uncertain

Foodplant / mycorrhiza
live mycelium of Hydnotrya is mycorrhizal with live root of Epipactis helleborine

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / saprobe
scattered, black pycnidium of Septoria coelomycetous anamorph of Septoria epipactidis forma subsparsa is saprobic on dead leaf of Epipactis helleborine

Foodplant / mycorrhiza
live mycelium of Tuber is mycorrhizal with live root of Epipactis helleborine
Other: major host/prey

Plant / pollenated
adult of Vespula pollenates or fertilises flower of Epipactis helleborine

Foodplant / mycorrhiza
live mycelium of Wilcoxina is mycorrhizal with live root of Epipactis helleborine

Flowering from June to July; fruiting in September.

Fl. Per.: End of June to August.

Epipactis helleborine is pollinated by social wasps, and most populations show the morphological characteristics of outcrossing species. However, local predominantly selfing subspecies and varieties have been documented from drier habitats. To document geographic variation in floral morphology, ability to produce seeds through autogamy, and reproductive success in Epipactis helleborine, populations of Epipactis helleborine from three geographic regions along a latitudinal gradient of c. 1000 km from northern to southern Sweden (Ehlers et al., 2002). In the southernmost region, populations in dry and mesic habitats were compared. Supplemental hand-pollination was conducted to determine whether among-population variation in fruit set could be explained by differences in the natural level of pollination, and whether any relationship between floral morphology and fruit production could be explained by interactions with pollinators. Bagging experiments showed no evidence of autogamy in any of the study populations. Number of flowers, pollinia removal and fruit set varied significantly among populations but did not differ among regions. Pollinia removal was positively correlated with population size and both pollinia removal and fruit set were lower in dry than in mesic habitats. At the level of the individual plant, the number of pollinia removed increased more rapidly with flower number than did number of fruits produced. The hand-pollination experiment indicated that the positive relationship between number of flowers and fruit production was due to a higher degree of pollen limitation in plants with few flowers than in plants with many flowers. The experiment also showed that variation in the level of pollen limitation could only partly explain variation in fruit set among populations.

The chromosomal number of Epipactis helleborine is 2n = 38, 40 (Averyanov et al., 1982; Stepanov and Muratova, 1992; Malakhova and Markova, 1994; Vij et al., 1995; D'Emerico et al., 1999).

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 4
Species: 7
Species With Barcodes: 1

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable