Marsh Helleborine

Family: Orchids. Found within the forest zone of Crimea, in the Caucasus, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in Central Asia, in Western Europe, in Asia Minor and Central Asia, and in Iran.

The most decorative species of this genus — grows in light swampy forests, boggy forest clearings, moist meadows, often around springs, predominantly on limestone. It tenaciously holds the occupied territory, so it may be found in unexpected places, but always on former marsh sites. Prefers well-lit locations, tolerates excessive stagnant moisture and poor soil aeration.

Plant with a creeping rhizome and long internodes. Stem up to 70 cm tall, slightly pubescent in the upper part, light green or pinkish, with numerous alternate leaves, oblong, up to 25 cm long; upper leaves smaller, resembling bracts. Inflorescence — a raceme of 6–20 flowers, with long bracts. Flowers up to 2.5 cm long, nodding, on twisted pedicels; the outer perianth segments are greenish with faint purple streaks, the inner ones whitish with pink streaks. The lip (labellum) without a spur, elongated, divided by a deep transverse notch into two lobes: the anterior lobe is cup-shaped and concave, pinkish outside, inside with orange warts, secreting nectar from its base; the posterior lobe is broadly oval, white, blunt, slightly emarginate at the tip with a wavy margin, narrowed at the base into a bridge occupied by a tubercle, the lower edge of which is colored yellow. Ovary straight, pubescent.

Marsh Helleborine reproduces by seed and by rhizomes. The rhizome is strongly branched, shallowly located, and grows like the rhizome of lily-of-the-valley. Through vegetative reproduction it forms fairly large groups. Flowers are pollinated by insects, most often wasps, but self-pollination is not uncommon. The structure and proportions of the parts of the lip of the marsh helleborine are ideally adapted to the structure and size of the bodies of pollinating wasps of the genus Eumenes. The nectar of the helleborine has narcotic properties, which may be caused by the action of yeasts found in it. After visiting several flowers a wasp cannot fly and only crawls from flower to flower, from inflorescence to inflorescence, laden with masses of pollinia, while the helleborine flowers do not wither for a long time, continuing to secrete the intoxicating nectar that irresistibly attracts insects. Besides Eumenes, marsh helleborine is pollinated by other species of solitary wasps, bumblebees and ants.

Marsh Helleborine is notable for a long flowering period from June until the end of August. Before and after pollination the flowers are nodding, but for pollination they take a horizontal position. The pollination rate is high — up to 80% of flowers set fruit. A fruit contains up to 4,500 seeds. Seed germination is about 70%.

Habitat: prefers semi-shaded locations and rich, non-acidic soils that do not contain fresh organic matter. Moisture-loving. Tolerates stagnant water, preferring sites where groundwater lies shallow. When growing on dry soils it becomes short and flowers poorly. Mature specimens are almost independent of mycorrhiza and therefore tolerate transplantation easily.

Reproduction: vegetatively propagated by division in early spring and after fruiting. Seed propagation in cultivation is difficult. Seeds are tiny, like dust. A minute seed can germinate only if a specific microscopic fungus penetrates it in the soil. The seedling remains in the soil for several years. Then a shoot appears above ground. It will take 10–15 years before the plant flowers.

Uses: indispensable in plantings of the "bog garden" type, original in group plantings and for cutting. Marsh Helleborine is a plant for collectors and true nature lovers, since the full magnificence of its flowers can only be appreciated by kneeling down. This orchid is well used in rock gardens, for planting on the bank or in the shallow water of a small pond. Near the helleborine one can place Virginia tradescantia, the variegated form of the showy stonecrop, low graceful hosta cultivars and ferns, as well as variegated forms of low ornamental grasses and sedges.