Epipactis Atrorubens and More: December 2016

Pale or Light form Variants - (Helleborine)

Pale form No.1 (top pavement)

Pallid form No.1 (Helleborine) Variant (2016) - (Click over to enlarge)

2016 Pale form No.1 on top pavement

This is a little beauty and stands at about 16" high and is strikingly light in colour. It matches up with a Pale form description with all areas light green and white/cream with no traces of red or purple. Some may call it Chlorantha. The inner hypochile (cup) is also in this case light green.

This photo shows the brown stalks circled in red which I mentioned earlier
which would be green on a pure "Chlorantha No.1" 2016
(Photo: Bryan Yorke)

The specimen lies deep within a small copse and is in close proximity to Specimen 15 and 16 Schmalhausenii plus other atrorubens. Also within a metre you can find the first of several beautiful specimens of helleborine which are hi-vigour and stand tall. Some of these fall into the straight forward category of Broad Leaved Helleborine but within a small distance (2ft) lies a pair of beauties which qualify for the title of "Purpurea variant" and have that purple throughout.

I also have another couple of very light helleborine specimens on Hutton Roof Crags which meet the criteria of pallid forms.

2017 Update (Pale form or light form North No.1)

Moving on into 2017 and the next photo is of the same plant but you will notice that the plant has regained some colour and looks like it may be reverting back to a "normal" helleborine or "reactivation of its genes".

Pallid form No. 1 Same plant as above in 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

2018 Pale or light form (Top pavement) No.1 - Never showed.

2019 Pale or light form (Top pavement) No.1 - Never showed.

2020 Pale or light form (Top pavement) No.1 - Never showed.

2021 No show presumed no longer with us.

(below) Pale form No.2 (Top pavement)

This is a very nice plant (below) which I found yesterday on Hutton Roof (31st July 2017). It is very pale plant . It is really spaced out between the flowers. By the way of interest is that this plant lies in the middle of "Juniper" and is only about 10 yards NW of the "Pallid form" shown at the top of the page.

Pallid or light form No.2 Nice clean plant found on 31st July 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

That same plant showing close-up - found 31st July 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

2018 Update Pale or light form North No. 2

Stunted growth to a few inches and then dieback - because of severe heatwave drought situation

2019 Pale light form North No. 2

Never came through again since

2020 Pale or light form North No.2

Came through OK, and straightened up by 30th July, but still no flowers.

2021 Update on Pale 2 (Top pavement

Came through with flowers to full maturity.

(below) Pale or light form No.3 - top pavement

Also on the same day I found this very small "light phase" helleborine (below) which is about 10" high and some 30 yards West of the plant shown above. It is within a couple of yards NW from Escarp 11 and 12 and also close to two more "normal" sized helleborines.

Pallid form North 3 - A lovely 10" light phase helleborine found on 31st July 2017
(Click over to enlarge)

Chlorantha or light form no.3 - The same plant close up (Click over to enlarge)

(24th August 2017)

Light phase in E. Helleborine this year has featured two specific plants which have been about 20 yards apart from one another. The tallest plant (Pale or light form No.2- Top Copse) was about 18" tall and was growing through a Juniper bush. The plant to me looked spectacular especially in that its flowers were well separated between the depth and gave the plant a rather special look. I have caged this one to try and save it from predation. Above are photos of the plant in situ and also a close up of the flowers.

The second "Light phase" plant of our E. Helleborines this year was a smaller plant called (Pale form or light form No.3 on Escarp) and this was well protected on all sides by being in the gryke of limestone. This plant stood at about 10" and again showed very pale features. Both areas in question eg: Top Copse and also Escarp have had several light phase flowers over the recent years.

It has already been noted this year that a "Pale form or light form No.1" from last year started to turn back this year with the same plant gaining more colour back to the original. I have also seen this regular with several plants over the recent years. So it is nice to photograph and record these just whilst they are showing well as a "light phase" plant. It will be interesting to see how these two (Pale No.2 and No.3) light forms turn out next year.

2018 Pale form 3 - Not recorded

2019 Pale form 3 - Not recorded

2020/2021 no longer with us

NOW MOVING OVER TO THE LOWER PAVEMENTS WERE WE DO HAVE A FURTHER SEVEN RECORDED PALE FORMS

Pale form No. 1 (low pavement)

(Pale or Light forms)

Specimen No.1 Pale form - Helleborine
29th July 2020

Specimen1 Pale form - Helleborine
29th July 2020

2021 - No Show.

Specimen no. 2 (low pavement)

(Pale or Light forms)

This plant lies 2 metre in a East direction from Specimen 1

Specimen 2
30th July 2020

Specimen 2
This shows Pale specimen 1 and Pale specimen 2
30th July 2020

Pale Form No.2 Lower never showed in 2021

Pale form 3 (Lower pavements)

(Below) Pale Form 4 (lower pavement)

Pallid form No.4 (lower pavements)

(above) Photo Pale No. 4 (lower pavement)

Photo: July 2020

(Below) Pale Form 5

(above) Pale Form No.5 (around the back of)

Photo taken July 2021

Pale Form No. 6

Pale form No. 6 - Photo July 2021

(above) Photo No. 6 Pale Form - Photo July 2021

(below) Pale Form No.7 (low pavement)

Pale Form 7 (low pavement) Photo: July 2020

(below)Pale Form No. 8 (low pavement)

No. 8 pale form - Photo July 2021

Purpurea or Dark Phase Variant (Helleborine)

Purpurea or Dark form No.1 (below)

This for me has been the darkest "purpurea" specimen (Specimen 1 Purpurea or dark form) I have had so far
(Click over to enlarge)
I took this photo on July 29th 2014 and the specimen lies within canopy some 10ft from the woodland edge,
another plant close by also shows similar colours.

Its probably gone on for years, yet it was about four years ago (2012) that I started to notice that certain small populations of E.helleborines were far more purple coloured than the norm, some so dense in colour just like the one above, although most were a lesser but more regular purple like the ones in the photos below. Also with purpurea I have noticed that the "very large" helleborine leaves also show a distinct darker tone against the norm which again probably indicates some sort of interference.

Another thing I did notice about these heavily purple coloured plants was that they all were recorded lying within canopy with plenty of shade and were generally on the fringes of copse or woodland, with occasional plants situated well into the canopy by anything up to 30 yards or so. There are two or three places in particular on the Hutton Roof Crags that can produce small populations of this "Purpurea" variety. One area in particular may have as many as 5 or 6 in a small area of say 10ft square. (see sketch below). Another interesting thing is that you dont always get purpurea next to purpurea, you may get a dark form right next to a light form although both are in the same "under canopy" areas, so obviously other factors may well be involved.

Photo of Purpurea or dark form No.1 - 4th August 2017 (Click over to enlarge)
also see the flowers close up in the next photo

Purpurea or Dark Form No.1 - 4th August 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

Purpurea or Dark Form No.1 on 8th August 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

Purpurea or Dark Form No.1 13th August 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

Purpurea or Dark Form No.1 on 13th August 2017

Purpurea or Dark Form No.3 (below)

Specimen No.3 Purpurea or dark form - I took this photo on 10th August 2016 (Click over photo to enlarge)

Purpurea or Dark Form No.3 - Photo taken 4th August 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

Purpurea or dark form No.3 - Photo taken 4th August 2017 (Click over to enlarge)

I guess all this is to do with photo-synthesis, and the area not getting enough direct sunlight must have something to do with it all. I do know this that it produces some fine looking specimens just like this one above which I took only last year (2017). This plant was not too far away from Specimen One (purpurea) which I showed earlier.

2018 Update (Purpurea or Dark Form No.3)

Checked it out at the correct times and there just was no show at all.

This is mid to dark and was taken in 2014 (Click over to enlarge)

Purpurea SW 5

Purpurea SW5 on 31st July 2020

Purpurea or Dark Form No.15 (below) Part of cluster on Lancelot

This is probably the "lightest" that I would qualify "Purpurea or dark form" from specimen 15 in 2012
(Click over to enlarge)

This is a very nice plant (Specimen 15 purpurea or dark form) within a small population
which is shown in the (See sketch below) - photo taken Aug 28th 2012
(Click over to enlarge)

There is much variation in the amount of purple from plant to plant. They can look stunning especially with a contrast to green ovary bracts and stems just like the above sample.

The sketch further down shows the area were I first discovered specimen No.15 (Purpurea or dark form) see below - which was a stunning plant in 2012

Spec No 15 purpurea or dark form - photo taken in 2012 (Click over to enlarge)

Its quite obvious from my photos that 2012 was a great year for the "purpurea", but this is not how it goes from year to year. If you check out the following photo (below) you will see the same plant (Spec No. 15 purpurea) the following year (2013) which has come through a little stunted in height to previous years, but more noticeable was that the buds of the flower actually died off and "aborted" long before coming through has a flower. All you actually saw was a sort of brown burnt out bud (you can see this in the photo) and you were eventually left with a bare plant with no flowers.

2021 was just a average year for purpurea or dark forms but here below is a sampling of some of the stars:

Photos below from 2013 - showing plant with just bracts and burnt out seeds

Specimen No. Purpurea or Dark Form No. 15 in 2013

Specimen Purpurea or dark form No. 15 in 2013

You will see from the sketch below that we did have five plants which came through showing this abortive state (in 2013), whilst others in the same collective came through as normal. Yet all the same flowers showed exceptionally well in the previous year (2012)

This is a sketch I did in 2013 showing the population but lots of aborted flowers (Click over to enlarge)

2018 Update (Specimen Purpurea or Dark Form No.15)

Although the plant did show it was poor with stunted growth - the plant in question has been poor ever since the "stunted" appearance back in 2013, although one or two of its neighbouring specimens to its West side have come through OK and these plants have a sort of "ruby red" appearance.

In 2016 I had another plant of this species which also produced something similiar (see below). It was far away from the above population and also a isolated case. Again on the edge of a copse, I found this small stunted plant again with evidence of burnt out abortive buds. Also this specimen showed to be stunted in its growth especially towards the plume area with bracts squashing down on one another. The photos below show you how the plants came through.

****