Cephalanthera damasonium
White helleborine | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
Genus: | Cephalanthera |
Species: | C. damasonium
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Binomial name | |
Cephalanthera damasonium (Mill.) Druce (1906)
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Synonyms[1] | |
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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.
Description
Cephalanthera damasonium is a herbaceous plant, reaching a maximum height of about 60 cm. Leaves are ovate, becoming narrower higher up the stem, with parallel venation. It has white flowers which never fully open. Each shoot can carry up to 16 flowers. Across its range this species flowers May–June.[2] It is a perennial species which tends not to spread vegetatively.[3]
This species is differentiated from the similar and closely related Cephalanthera longifolia, by comparing the leaves. The rarer Cephalanthera longifolia has longer, narrower leaves.
Distribution and habitat
Found in shady lowland forest with little undergrowth, especially under
This species is found in Europe from England and Sweden to Russia and Iran; also Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Yunnan.[1][4]
Ecology
The flowers of this species hardly open, because they are
Cephalanthera damasonium has been indicated to be a mycorrhizal generalist. A 2017 investigation found that in Italy mycorrhizal associations are formed with Agaricomycetes, Ascomycota, Cadaphora luteo-olivacea, Cenococcum geophilum, Ceratobasidium including C. cornigerum, Cryptococcus carnescens, Exophiala salmonis, Hymenogastraceae including Hymenogaser cytrinus and H. bulliardii., Pezizomycetes, Sebacina sp. and Tetracladium furcatum.[5]
It has been suggested that the presence of this orchid species in a woodland is an indicator that edible truffles can be found there,[6] but this is not always the case.
Conservation
Globally, the conservation status of this species is vulnerable.[7] In the United Kingdom this species is abundant but declining, and mainly a southern English species.[3]
Etymology
"Helleborine" may refer to deer using the orchid for food (many conservationists have noted that helleborine orchids are grazed by deer
References
- ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^ First Nature - Cephalanthera damasonium
- ^ a b c Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora
- ^ Flora of China v 25 p 176, 大花头蕊兰 da hua tou rui lan
- ^ Journal of Systematics and Evolution - Fungal diversity and specificity in Cephalanthera damasonium and C. longifolia (Orchidaceae) mycorrhizas
- ^ Acta Biologica Szegediensis - Could orchids indicate truffle habitats? Mycorrhizal association between orchids and truffles
- ^ Natural History Museum - Cephalanthera damasonium
- ^ A New Universal Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary
- ^ Plantlife - Epipactis youngiana
- ^ "Wildflower Society Online Report". Archived from the original on 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- ^ Finnish Orchids
- ^ Dictionary.com
Literature
- Claessens, J. & J. Kleynen: The flower of the European Orchid – Form and function, 2011. ISBN 978-90-9025556-9.
- Media related to White Helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium) at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to White Helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium) at Wikispecies