''Epipactis dunensis'', commonly known as dune helleborine, is a species of plant in the orchid

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Great Britain and Ireland. It typically grows to a height of and the upper half of the flowering stalk is hairy. The plant has a long, fleshy rootstock and three to ten yellowish green, oval to lance-shaped leaves arranged in opposite rows along the flowering stem with up to 35 flowers. The three

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are greenish, the two petals paler, the lower part of the labellum (the hypochile) is boat-shaped and dark, chocolate brown with a transparent, whitish rim and the epichile is heart-shaped with a pointed tip. Flowering occurs from late June to mid-August, the flowers are mainly self-pollinated, and the fruit is a capsule, from which light,

microscopic The microscopic scale () is the scale of objects and events smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye, requiring a lens (optics), lens or microscope to see them clearly. In physics, the microscopic scale is sometimes regarded a ...

seeds are spread by the wind.IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
/ref> The species was first formally described in 1918 by Thomas Stephenson and

Thomas Alan Stephenson Thomas Alan Stephenson Royal Society, FRS (19 January 1898 – 3 April 1961) was a British naturalist, and marine biology, marine biologist, specialising in sea anemones. Education Stephenson was born at Burnham-on-Sea, the son of a Minister of ...

who gave it the name ''Helleborine viridiflora'' f. ''dunensis'' in the ''

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign ''Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' is a monthly journal that was published from 1863 to 1942, and founded by Berthold Carl Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Centra ...

''. In 1926, Masters John Godfery raised the form to species status as ''Epipactis dunensis''. Dune helleborine grows in willow scrub near the troughs of dunes in England, Scotland and on the east coast of the Irish Republic. Some authorities refer to the Tyne helleborine that grows in woodland in northern England and southern Scotland.

References

External links

First Nature, ''Epipactis dunensis'' - Dune HelleborineNorth Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan, Dune Helleborine, ''Epipactis dunensis'' Biopix, Dune Helleborine ''(Epipactis dunensis)''Distribution map, ''Epipactis dunensis''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5383097 dunensis Plants described in 1918 Orchids of Britain