EPIPACTIS PALUSTRIS : The Marsh Helleborine

A denizen of damp alkaline ground. Typically dune slacks. This one on the Wiltshire downs, probable seepage, old workings. Somewhat dwarfed in stature. Tends to get eaten by sheep after seed is set, and spreads by vegetative means (allegedly). Though distribution only looks vegetative in larger clumps. Flowered in great profusion in 1998. With some frog orchids and pyramidal orchids. And nearby common spotted, butterfly, fragrant, twy blades and fly orchids.

This site produces approximately 600 flower spikes