A Passion for Nature

Broadleaf Helleborine July 30, 2011

Broadleaf Helleborine - Epipactis helleborine

A friend sent me a picture of a flower the other day asking for identification.  It reminded me that I wanted to learn more about this flower – a relatively common little orchid.  So, I headed to the woods last night in search of it.  Many orchids have very specific habitat requirements.  This introduced species, sometimes referred to as the weed orchid, is not so discriminating.  I have found it clinging to banks of rocky creeks, under conifers or deciduous trees, and in wide open spaces.  Of course, last night, I couldn’t find it in good light, but I did find it.  The sun was low and the woods were getting dark, so I had to use my flash… something I don’t do often, preferring natural light whenever I can manage it.

It’s fun to poke around the Internet to learn about flowers, especially “non-native” ones.  You find websites from the US that warn of the plant’s invasive tendencies, and websites from Europe that teach you how to care for the plant in your garden.  Around here, I find the “invasive” warnings to be unnecessary, as I rarely find huge patches of the stuff – just an isolated plant here or there.  A paper from the DNR in Wisconsin on this species noted no danger of invasiveness in some habitats studied, but suggested other similar habitats are impacted.  Scientists are keeping their eye on it and some states do have control plans in place.

Broadleaf Helleborine is an orchid with multiple blooms per stem reported to come in many color variations from green to white to cream to pinkish-purple.  Several websites claim that Broadleaf Helleborine was introduced to North America for medicinal purposes, though none said what it was used to treat…

So I decided to hit the books.  Google Books, that is.  I found a book about the orchids of Russia from which I pulled these facts:

• Seeds that find suitable habitat will concentrate all their growth efforts underground for 3 to 9 years before sending up a shoot visible above ground.
• The plant may not produce flowers until it is 10 or 11 years old.  (Given its slow start, it’s hard to believe it can be invasive, isn’t it?)
• Once it starts blooming, it may produce flowers annually with the number of blooms on the stalk diminishing in each subsequent year.
• The full life span of an individual plant may be as long as 35 years.
• Seeds can be formed via self-pollination, or by cross-pollination.  Wasps tend to be the primary pollinator attracted by nectar, which “may be” narcotic to them.  (Whoa!)

Nothing in that one about medicinal uses, though.  So, I added “medicinal” to my search and found a handbook to plant lectins (whatever they are).  I’m afraid the medical lingo was thick enough that I couldn’t decipher exactly what it said.  My take-away:  scientists have isolated something from the leaves of this plant that does something.  Ha ha.  Good, eh?  Click the book cover image to go to the online text and see if you can decipher it any closer than that.  (Feel free to post your interpretation below!)

Another blogger reported that this plant is used to cure insanity.  I rarely trust bloggers (don’t take it personally), so I started looking and looking and looking to find an online source to confirm that.  The closest I got was a listing in a google books search that looked like this:

Handbook of Medicinal Plants
Supriya Kumar Bhattacharjee – 2000 – 474 pages – Snippet view
Epipactis SW. Orchidaceae Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz. : It is a terrestrial orchid with stout stem. Leaves are variable. … The roots of these plants are medicinal which cure insanity. Epipactis latifolia Wall. …

The full text of this book is not available online.  I don’t know how google decides what to display and whether I can trust that these words all refer to “my” flower.  I think it does, based on a little further examination:

Still, I found no primary source for “bringing it to North America” for medical or any other purpose.  I probably won’t look any further, either.  But I do find it fascinating how many web sources simply quote each other.

Anyway… there you have it:  Broadleaf Helleborine, also known as Weed Orchid and Bastard Helleborine.  It blooms from June through September – so as you’re hiking around the woods this summer, keep your eye open for it!  I’ve seen it at Chautauqua Gorge, Bentley Sanctuary, and in the woods behind Bergman Park.  I haven’t been to other spots just lately, but if I see it other places, I’ll add to this list.

Learn More:

• USDA Plant Database
• eFloras
• DNR Wisconsin
• Missouri Plants
• Vietta’s Views
• Orchids of Russia and adjacent countries
  (within the borders of the former USSR)
  - by Maria G. Vakhrameeva (google books)
• Handbook of Plant Lectins: Properties and Biomedical Applications
  - by Els J. M. VanDamme (google books)