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Epipactis palustris

marsh helleborine

Orchidaceae

Europe, western Asia, and North Africa

Attracts Pollinators

SunFull Sun – Part Shade

WaterHigh

HardinessZones 5–8

Overview

Epipactis palustris is a slender perennial orchid of wet, lime-rich ground, growing 6-18 inches (15-45 cm) tall from a creeping rhizome that forms small colonies. The narrow, folded, strongly ribbed leaves clasp the lower stem and grade into bracts up the flower spike. Each loose spike carries 7-20 nodding flowers; the outer sepals are greenish to brownish-purple, the inner petals whitish flushed pink, and the frilled white lip is marked with yellow and crimson at its base. Flowering comes in midsummer, mainly July. It grows in fens, dune slacks, marshes, and wet, base-rich grassland, on ground that stays moist through the year. Like many orchids it depends on soil fungi and is slow to establish, so it does not transplant well and resents disturbance.

Native Range

Native across Europe and into western Asia and North Africa, growing in calcareous fens, marshes, and damp dune hollows. In Britain it is local and declining, tied to wet, lime-rich sites that have been lost to drainage.

Suggested Uses

Grown by specialist growers in calcareous bog gardens, tufa beds, and conservation collections that recreate fen conditions. In the wild it is a plant of protected fens and dune slacks rather than gardens. Its summer flowers draw wasps, bees, and hoverflies.

How to Identify

A loose spike of 7-20 nodding flowers tops a slender stem 6-18 inches (15-45 cm) tall in midsummer. Each flower has greenish to brownish-purple sepals, pink-flushed white inner petals, and a frilled, hinged white lip marked yellow and crimson at the base. The folded, ribbed leaves and the wet, lime-rich habitat separate it from other helleborine orchids of drier woods.

Appearance

Size & Dimensions

Height6" - 1'6"

Width/Spread6" - 1'

Colors

Flower Colors

Foliage Colors

Bloom Information

Bloom Period

~4 weeks

Summer

Nodding flowers open in midsummer, mainly through July, from the base of the spike upward. They are pollinated by wasps, bees, and hoverflies drawn to nectar on the hinged lip, and ripen into upright capsules that release dust-like seed.

Detailed Descriptions

Flower Description

White, pink, and crimson with yellow

Foliage Description

Green

Growing Conditions

Sun Requirements

SunFull Sun SunPartial Shade

Requires 4-10 hours of direct sunlight daily

• Full Sun: 6+ hours of direct sunlight

• Partial Shade: 3-6 hours of direct sunlight

• Full Shade: Less than 3 hours of direct sunlight

Soil Requirements

pH Range6.5 - 8.0(Alkaline)

357912

Soil Types

loam chalk peat

Drainagewet

Water & Climate

Water Needs

High

Frost Tolerance

hardy

Time to Maturity

3-5 years

Care & Maintenance

Care Guide

Epipactis palustris grows in full sun to light shade on permanently moist to wet, lime-rich soil at a soil pH of about 6.5-8.0. It needs ground that stays damp year-round and depends on associated soil fungi, so established plants resent disturbance and are slow to spread. The creeping rhizome forms colonies over years where conditions hold steady. Hardy to about USDA zone 5, it withstands hard frost and dies back to the rhizome each winter. It does not tolerate drainage, drought, or heavy fertiliser, all of which let coarser plants crowd it out. In cultivation it is grown only in specialist bog or tufa beds that mimic its wet, calcareous habitat.

Pruning

Epipactis palustris is not pruned. The flower stems and foliage die back on their own in autumn and can be left or cleared by hand as the plant goes dormant for winter.

✓ Toxicity

Non-toxic