Broad-leaved Helleborine

Appearance

''Epipactis helleborine'' grows to a height of 80 cms has broad dull green leaves which are strongly ribbed and flat. The flowers are arranged in a long drooping racemes with dull green sepals and shorter upper petals. The lower labellum is pale red and is much shorter than the upper petals.

Naming

A rather long list of names have been proposed for subspecies, varieties and forms of ''Epipactis helleborine'', far too many to list here. This is not unusual for such a widespread species. At present only the following are accorded international acceptance:

#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. bithynica'' Kreutz - Turkey
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. degenii'' Kreutz - Greece
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. densifolia'' Kreutz - Turkey
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. helleborine'' - widespread
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. latina'' W.Rossi & E.Klein - Italy, former Yugoslavia
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. leutei'' Kreutz - Austria, Czech Republic
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. levantina'' Kreutz, Óvári & Shifman - Turkey
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. molochina'' Kreutz - Spain
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. neerlandica'' Buttler - Great Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. orbicularis'' E.Klein - Austria, Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Baltic Republics
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. schubertiorum'' Kreutz - Italy
#''Epipactis helleborine ''var''. tangutica'' S.C.Chen & G.H.Zhu - China
#''Epipactis helleborine ''subsp''. tremolsii'' E.Klein - France, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, Italy, Algeria, Morocco

Distribution

It is widespread across much of Europe and Asia from Portugal to China, as well as northern Africa. In North America, it is widely naturalized mostly in the Northeastern United States, eastern Canada and the Great Lakes Region, but also in scattered locations in other parts of the continent.

Habitat

Found in woods and hedge-banks.Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. ''Excursion Flora of the British Isles.'' Cambridge University Press