Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana

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Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Epipactis
Species:
Variety:
E. h. var. youngiana
Trinomial name
Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana
(A. J. Richards & A. F. Porter) Krantz [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Epipactis youngianaA. J. Richards & A. F. Porter

Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana, known as Young's helleborine, is a variety of orchid that is endemic to Great Britain. It has also been treated as a separate species, Epipactis youngiana.

Contents

Taxonomy

Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana was discovered in 1975 by Tony Porter, [2] and described as a new species by Porter and A. J. Richards in 1982. [3] The specific epithet commemorates Donald Peter Young, who worked extensively on Epipactis. [3] It is part of the Epipactis helleborine species complex, and cannot be distinguished from the wide-ranging and variable species E. helleborine using genetic markers. [2] It is therefore treated as a variety of the widespread species, as E. helleborine var. youngiana. [1] [2]

Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana was thought to be a hybrid between two other orchid taxa, probably E. dunensis and E. helleborine. [2] More recently it is treated simply as a variety of E. helleborine. [1]

Description

Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana is a perennial herb that typically grows 15–40 centimetres (6–16 in) high. [2] It differs from typical E. helleborine in having its basal leaf more than 1.2× as long as broad rather than 1.1× as long as broad, in the basal leaf being "flat, flaccid, unribbed, silky to [the] touch, margins undulate" ("cucullate, stiff, ribbed, coarse to [the] touch, margins not undulate" in E. helleborine), in its flowers – when coloured – being clear pink rather than dirty pink, in the rostellum being nearly as long as the anthers (less than half as long as the anthers in E. helleborine) and in having a shiny ovary with a few stiff hairs, rather than matt with soft hairs or hairless, as in E. helleborine. [2]

Distribution

Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana was first discovered in southern Northumberland, close to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and along the valley of the River South Tyne; all the sites were associated with metal mining. [2] Populations of similar orchids on bings (coal-mining spoil heaps) in the Central Belt of Scotland have also been assigned to the same taxon. [2] Similar plants also occur on the sand dunes at Kenfig Burrows in South Wales, which have been polluted by the nearby Margam steelworks. [2]

Conservation

Epipactis helleborine var. youngiana is considered an endangered species in the United Kingdom, and is protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. [2]

Related Research Articles

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Epipactis, or helleborine, is a genus of terrestrial orchids consisting of approximately 70 species. This genus is abbreviated as Epcts in horticultural trade.

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Calypso is a genus of orchids containing one species, Calypso bulbosa, known as the calypso orchid, fairy slipper or Venus's slipper. It is a perennial member of the orchid family found in undisturbed northern and montane forests. It has a small pink, purple, pinkish-purple, or red flower accented with a white lip, darker purple spottings, and yellow beard. The genus Calypso takes its name from the Greek signifying concealment, as they tend to favor sheltered areas on conifer forest floors. The specific epithet, bulbosa, refers to the bulb-like corms.

<i>Babiana</i> Genus of flowering plants

Babiana is a genus of geophytes in the family Iridaceae with 93 recognized species as of March 2022. The leaves consist of a stalk and a blade that are at an angle to each other. The leaf blades are entire, laterally flattened and pleated, and often hairy. Each individual flower is subtended by two hairy or smooth bracts that are green in most species. The outer bract is often the largest of the two. In most species the bracts have a dry, brown tip, but in a few species it is entirely green or entirely dry when flowering or the outer bract is translucent and has a papery texture. The inner bract is forked or split all the way to its base. Each flower is without a pedicel, with six tepals that are merged at their base into a tube and form a perianth that is mirror-symmetrical in most species, with three anthers implanted where the perianth tube widens and that are, in almost every species, clustered at one side of the style. The style has three branches that widen towards the tip and the ovary is inferior. Flowers occur in almost every conceivable colour, many have markings on some of the tepals, and few star-symmetrical flowers have a centre that strongly contrasts with the free part of the perianth. The majority of these species are endemic to the west and southwest of South Africa, and southwestern Namibia, but one species occurs elsewhere in Namibia and South Africa and another species can be found in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The genus name is derived from the Dutch word baviaan, referring to the Chacma baboon, Papio ursinus, that consumes the corms of plants in the genus. The genus is called bobbejaantjie in Afrikaans, meaning small baboon.

<i>Cephalanthera rubra</i> Species of orchid

Cephalanthera rubra, known as red helleborine, is an orchid found in Europe, North Africa and southwest Asia. Although reasonably common in parts of its range, this Cephalanthera has always been one of the rarest orchids in Britain.

<i>Cephalanthera longifolia</i> Species of orchid

Cephalanthera longifolia, the narrow-leaved helleborine, sword-leaved helleborine or long-leaved helleborine, is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is native to light woodland, and widespread across Europe, Asia and North Africa from Ireland and Morocco to China. This includes the United Kingdom, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Algeria, India, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and many other countries.

<i>Epipactis helleborine</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Epipactis palustris</i> Species of orchid

Epipactis palustris, the marsh helleborine, is a species of orchid native to Europe and Asia.

<i>Epipactis gigantea</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Cephalanthera damasonium</i> Species of orchid

Cephalanthera damasonium, the white helleborine, is a species of orchid. It is widespread across much of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Cephalanthera damasonium is the type species of the genus Cephalanthera.

<i>Corymbium</i> Genus of perennial plants from South Africa

Corymbium is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family comprising nine species. It is the only genus in the subfamily Corymbioideae and the tribe Corymbieae. The species have leaves with parallel veins, strongly reminiscent of monocots, in a rosette and compounded inflorescences may be compact or loosely composed racemes, panicles or corymbs. Remarkable for species in the daisy family, each flower head contains just one, bisexual, mauve, pink or white disc floret within a sheath consisting of just two large involucral bracts. The species are all endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, where they are known as plampers.

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<i>Pyrola grandiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve</span>

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<i>Hypericum undulatum</i> Species of flowering plant in the St Johns wort family Hypericaceae

Hypericum undulatum, the wavy St Johns Wort, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant native to western Europe and northern Africa. The specific name undulatum is Latin, meaning "wavy" or "undulated", referring, just as the common name, to the wavy leaf margins of the herb. The plant has a diploid number of 16 or 32.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Stace, Clive (2010). New Flora of the British Isles (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-70772-5. p. 863.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A. J. Richards (2007). Epipactis youngiana A.J.Richards & A.F.Porter (PDF). Plantlife International.
  3. 1 2 A. J. Richards & A. F. Porter (1982). "On the identity of a Northumberland Epipactis" (PDF). Watsonia . 14: 121–128.