#epipactis helleborine

[theyoungwaldschrat]

Epipactis helleborine - broad-leaved helleborine orchid

[geopsych]

Epipactis helleborine

Broad-leaved helleborine, producing narcotics without a license on main—Main Street, that is. These plants are nonnative orchids that grow as volunteers in gardens and woodlands in our area. In some places they’re even invasive but here they don’t seem to cause any problems.

At one time it was thought that only humans produced the narcotic painkiller oxycodone but no, orchids, the plants that seem to go to any length to get pollinated without having to produce sweet nectar, came up with it before we did, at least in this case. Botanists noticed wasps behaving strangely after sipping the liquid in the little cups the flowers provide and when they tested it they found several interesting compounds including oxycodone (and poisons that would make it dangerous for us to try). Some of the chemicals attract pollinators with their scent and the oxycodone and maybe some of the other substances cause the pollinators to stumble and linger, making them more likely to pollinate the flowers!

There’s a study but I’m having trouble pasting it here, definitely showing oxycodone in the nectar. Does it’s addictiveness raise pollination rates? I’m sure it’s being looked into. Meanwhile wasps in my town are feeling no pain. Edit: Here's the link to the study: https://www.aloki.hu/pdf/0302_029038.pdf Thank you to @enbynaoto for that!

[wildflowers-of-southern-ontario]

Broad-leafed Helleborine Epipactis helleborine Orchidaceae

Photographs taken on July 21, 2023, at Mono Cliffs Provincial Park, Mono, Ontario, Canada.

[dragonfang-photography]

Epipactis helleborine, the broad-leafed helleborine, a type of orchid. Sometimes called the "weed orchid" because it pops up everywhere and is difficult to eradicate. Non-native but naturalized to North America.

[lichenaday]

One thing I love about lichen hunting is all the other organisms you get to meet on your search. We recently went on a collection trip to find rare Ricasolia amplissima in the Alps, and look at all the native orchids I got to meet!

Left to right:

Top row: Gymnadenia conopsea; Epipactis palustris; Neottia ovata

Middle row: Epipactis atrorubens; Ophrys insectifera

Bottom row: Dactylorhiza fuchsii; Platanthera chlorantha; Epipactis helleborine

[c0existence]

Epipactis helleborine

[francescointoppa]

E – Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz – Elleborine comune (Orchidaceae)

[nordicsublime]

Skovhullæbe - Epipactis helleborine

[15-blade]

I’ve been seeing the stalk and leaves all year and I finally caught this epipactis helleborine flowering.

[thalkons-garden]

Introduction/Table of Contents

Welcome to my garden!

I will be placing plant information here as I learn it. The plants this blog will be focusing on will be ones that I am currently interested in, am planting, or have identified on my own. Each post will contain the plant name, scientific name (if I was able to figure it out which plant I have), how to plant it, care for it, harvest it, save seeds from it, and if it companion plants with other plants (with links hopefully). If you’re interested in Herbs and how to heal with them, you can check out my blog @herbalist-thalkon where I will be updating my research into healing with plants. There will most likely be cross posts, but the posts on this side will deal with more growing and maintaining the plant, whereas the posts on my other blog will have more information on recipes, healing properties, and anything else that I felt was needed to be added to the posts. So, without further ado, the table of contents.

Table of Contents

Pincushion Peperomia

Lace Aloe

Eve’s Pin Cactus

Hobbit Jade Plant

Pennyroyal

German Chamomile

Calendula

Wormwood

Statice

Tansy

Rover Bellflower

Norway Maple

Yellow Sheep-Sorrel

American Burnweed

English Ivy

Munson’s Grape

Sweet Rocket

Pigeonberry

Shepherd’s Purse

Taraxacum Campylodes?

Bird’s Rape

Hairy Crabgrass

Jesusplant

Motherwort

Slender Yellow Woodsorrel

Sun Spurge

Prostrate Knotweed

Jagged Chickweeds

Rhubarb?

Fat-Hen?

Epipactis Helleborine?

Hoary Bowlesia?

Borage?

Bishop’s Weed?

Stiff Hedgenettle?

Hedge Woundwort, Whitespot?

Vitis Vulpina (Frost Grape)

Canadian Goldenrod

Garlic Chive

Peach Tree

[elektroskopik]

Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) in bloom at the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. Helleborine is a species of orchid found originally in Eurasia but has spread via anthropogenic means as an invasive species throughout the eastern US and Canada.

[geopsych]

Broad-leaved helleborine, Epipactis helleborine, here volunteering among the pachysandra in a bed downtown. It is a common nonnative orchid that holds in those innocent-looking pools of nectar toxins and chemicals resembling oxycodone, rendering some pollinator wasps unable to fly for a short time after they drink it. The orchid family is a strange bunch.

[wildflowers-of-southern-ontario]

Broad-leafed helleborine Epipactis helleborine Orchidaceae

Photographs taken on August 13, 2023, at Pinery Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

[monsitephotos]

Epipactis des marais

L’épipactis des marais, helléborine des marais ou epipactis palustris de la famille des Orchidacées (Orchidaceae), est une orchidée sauvage qui se rencontre dans des endroits humides en pleine lumière de fin juin à juillet. Cet épipactis mesure de 25 à 60 centimètres de hauteur, les fleurs sont assez grandes, nombreuses, avec des sépales et pétales pourpres "carmin", le labelle est blanc séparé en deux parties bien distinctes par un étranglement formant un coupe contenant le nectar. La hampe florale est couleur verte et pourpre, recouverte de poils à hauteur de fleurs.

(via Epipactis des marais)

[francescointoppa]

Cartolina: Elleborine comune (Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz, Orchidaceae)

[charlesreeza]

Another mystery plant . . . a couple of these showed up around the edges of my garden, pretty far apart, in places where I know I didn’t plant anything.  The flowers are interesting.  Ants and slugs seem to love them.  

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Update: Thanks @fatchance for identifying this as a broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine).  The North American Orchid Center says, “It grows so aggressively in some states, such as Wisconsin, that it is considered a weed.”