- Epipactis palustris (L.) Crantz. - Marsh Helleborine - Orchidaceae
© Robert Thompson
© Robert Thompson
(Map updated: March 2008)
Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris) is a rather scarce plant of lowland marshy alkaline ground such as fens, wet dune-slacks and flooded railway cuttings.
The plants have about half a dozen narrow leaves and a one-side flower spike of between four and twenty flowers. The flowering period stretches from June to September and the flowers are pollinated by bees; they have a whitish lower lip and the rest of the flower is tinged reddish or brownish.
There is a creeping rootstock below the soil surface enabling the plant to spread over large areas of ground.
All names: Epipactis palustris (L.) Crantz.; Epipactis longifolia All.; Helleborine palustris (L.) Schrank
NBN Atlas mapping: Species account : NBN Atlas UK Species Observations database
iNaturalist: Species account : iNaturalist World Species Observations database