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My #wildflowerhour week has been rather focused upon one plant, the marvellous Broad-Leaved Helleborine orchid, Epipactis helleborine. This especially loves the streets, car parks and front gardens of Glasgow, and I find this v intriguing. So I spent a few days studying it
These plants were growing in a car park under poplar. My massive thumb does not offer scale in this pic because it is massive and I am a giantess. #wildflowerhour
This one was in a front garden in the West End. Was an open site. Also the only site where there was a buddleia present. Buddleia has colonised many derelict sites in the city (see pic 2) but I was struck that none of those sites also hosted helleborines
These specimens were growing in the rather wonderful North Kelvin Meadow, a community site with a superb woodland playground, veg beds. They were under a real mix of trees: alder, birch, horse chestnut and beech #wildflowerhour
There were many clumps growing along the banks of the Kelvin, too, under many different trees again. Birch was often present in the mix. #wildflowerhour
I was v happy to return to the car park at the Science Centre, where I’d found c.100 BLH growing under birch in 2017. Their numbers were half that this year. #wildflowerhour
Among the Science Centre Helleborines was the deep-purple-flowered variation, E. helleborine var. purpurea. This has lovely dropping flowers too.
There were also many normal BLHs at this site. #wildflowerhour
The finds I got the most excited about were these tree pit orchids all the way along Broomielaw. They were all growing under lime trees and had an interesting form that I look forward to studying again next year (when I will visit earlier) #wildflowerhour
I arrived in Glasgow a little too late for prime flowering from the Broad Leaved Helleborine orchids. Next year I’ll go earlier. I’ll put the data I’ve collected this year online in case it’s useful.