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Broadleaf helleborine (Epipactis helleborine)

Broadleaf helleborine Common Names: Helleborine

Description: First discovered in New York in 1879. It was a very popular plant with garden clubs, etc.

Habit: Erect, perennial, 1-3 ft. tall forb; several stems appear and are covered with a sparse woolly hair.

Leaves: Many (3-30), alternate, clasping, oval to lance-like, 3-15 cm long and 1.5-6(~7) cm wide.

Stems: 1-3 ft tall including flowering spike, simple, erect, herbaceous, tomentose with some arachnoid pubescence above, from thin rhizomes and fibrous roots. Hairs branched, translucent, clavate or crinkled.

Flowers: 6-parted, 3/4-1 in. wide, lip is green-purple, petals and sepals dull green with purple veins, 4-12 in. one-sided raceme, bracts below flowers are longer than the petals, flowers are nodding; blooms late June through August.

Fruit and seeds: Fruit are capsule that are egg-shaped to ellipsoid, green with brownish lines, up to 0.6 in. (1.5 cm) long, and generally hairy.

Habitat: Native to Eurasia. Found in deciduous forests, roadsides; in limy soil and shaded woodland environments.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Resembles native lilies such as Virginia bunchflower (Veratrum virginicum), Appalachian bunchflower (Veratrum parviflorum) and Green false hellebore (Veratrum viride).

Monitoring and rapid response: Hand-pulling is effective, chemical treatment is not needed.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Bugwood.org wiki and the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Broadleaf helleborine

Scientific Name:

Epipactis helleborine

Family:

Orchidaceae
(Orchid)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Herbs

USDA Symbol:

EPHE