Epipactis.] orchidace/E. -189 



VIII. Epipactis, Rich. Helleborine. 



" Perianth patent ; lip interrupted, the basal division concave, 

 terminal one larger with two projecting plates at its base above ; 

 stigma nearly square, rostellated ; rostellwm short, terminated by 

 a globose appendage ; anther terminal, erect, sessile, 2-celled ; 

 cells without septa ; column short ; germen straight, on a twisted 

 stalk." — Bab. Man. 



1. 'E. latifolia, Sw. Broad-leaved Helleborine. "Leaves ob- 

 long or ovate many-nerved, upper ones narrower, raceme elon- 

 gated many-flowered, lower bracteas longer than the flowers, upper 

 lobe of the lip broadly ovate or deltoid acute somewhat cordate at 

 the base broadest below the middle with 2 tubercles at the base 

 as long as or a little shorter than the sepals nearly quite entire." 

 —Br. Fl. p. 416. Serapias, L. : E. B. t. 269. 



In rather moist woods, groves, rough stony thickets, and amongst shaded rocks ; 

 not very common. Fl. July, August. Fr. September, October. 2^. 



E. Med. — Here and there in Quarr copse, very sparingly. More frequent in 

 the woody landslip between Luccombe and Bonchurch, 1839. Kather frequent 

 in the wooded ground along the shore between Ryde and Binstead, 1849: the 

 plant at this last station is exactly the E. latifolia of Bab. Man. (2nd. edit.) ; the 

 flowers are variously suffused with purple, sometimes wholly of a pale green. Be- 

 tween Shanklin and Godsbill, Mr. J. Woods, jun., B. T. W. 



W. Med. — A specimen seen in Sluccombe copse, 1845. Woods at Swainston, 

 occasionally. Kingston copse. Tolt copse, near Gatcombe. Eather plentiful in 

 the great plantation at Weslover, 1843. A single specimen in a wood by Rowledge. 



Root a bundle of long, stout, wavy, cylindrical, downy fibres, of a pale brown 

 colour, nearly the thickness of a crow-quill, amongst which are nestled the hyber- 

 nacula of the ensuing year's plant, in the shape of large, fleshy, acute buds, often 

 of a bright pink-colour. Stem simple, solitary or sometimes 2 or more, from about 

 a foot to 3 feet in height, erect, leafy, solid, glabrous and terete below, .somewhat 

 angular above, and downy with jointed, forked and even branched pellucid hair.s, 

 more or less coloured pink or purplish, always so at the base. Leaves numerous, 

 glabrous, much like those of Lily of the Valley, bright grass-green, scarcely paler 

 beneath and varnished, sessile and clasping, strongly rihbed and striate, the prin- 

 cipal ribs very acutely keeled beneath and beset with minute cartilaginous joints, 

 though less conspicuously than along the margins, where they form a sort of 

 fringe, the lowermost leaves of all reduced to close strongly ribbed or fluted 

 sheaths, a little open or subfoliaceous at the top, the next above these very short, 

 nearly orbicular, those on the centre of the stem much the largest, 4 or 5 inches 

 in length by 2 or 2\ inches wide, broadly ovate, acute, spreading or patent, still 

 higher up narrowing to ovato-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, with long points; all 

 much longer than the internodes, their sheaths diminishing rapidly in length to 

 nearly or quite wanting to the uppermost leaves. Flowers very numerous, green- 

 ish, or purplish in various degrees, always, I believe, pale on first opening, nod- 

 ding, distinctly pedicellate, secund or partly spreading, in an upright, terminal, 

 racemose spike, from 4 or 6 to 10 or 12 inches in length, each from the axil of a 

 linear-lanceolate, very acute, ribbed bract, of which the inferior exceed the flowers 

 they accompany in length, and often very considerably. Sepals glabrous, ovate, 

 acute, concave, moderately spreading, greenish or purplish, the 2 lateral a little 

 oblique, sharply keeled behind, about 5-ribbed. Lateral petals broadly ovate, 

 about as long as the sepals, ascending and somewhat converging, veined, with a 

 very thick, obtuse and prominent dorsal keel terminating at some distance below 

 the point ; lip inflated at base into a rather more than hemispherical ribbed sac, 



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