Cephalanthera rubra

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Asparagales

Familia: Orchidaceae
Subfamilia: Epidendroideae
Tribus: Neottieae
Genus: Cephalanthera
Species: Cephalanthera rubra
Name

Cephalanthera rubra (L.) Rich., De Orchid. Eur.: 38 (1817)
Synonymy

Basionym
Serapias rubra L., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, 2: 594 (1767)
Homotypic
Epipactis rubra (L.) F.W.Schmidt, Samml. Phys.-Ökon. Aufs. 1: 253 (1795)
Cymbidium rubrum (L.) Sw., J. Bot. (Schrader) 2: 226 (1799)
Helleborine rubra (L.) Schrank, Fl. Monac. 2: 119 (1814)
Dorycheile rubra (L.) Fuss, Fl. Transsilv.: 628 (1866)
Limodorum rubrum (L.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 671 (1891)
Heterotypic
Epipactis purpurea Crantz, Stirp. Austr. Fasc., ed. 2, 2: 457 (1769)
Cephalanthera comosa Tineo in G.Gussone, Fl. Sicul. Syn. 2: 877 (1844)
Cephalanthera rubra var. comosa (Tineo) Nyman, Consp. Fl. Eur.: 687 (1882)
Epipactis rubra lusus albiflora Harz in D.F.L.von Schlechtendal, Fl. Deutschl. ed. 5, 4: 330 (1896)
Epipactis rubra lusus parviflora Harz in D.F.L.von Schlechtendal, Fl. Deutschl. ed. 5, 4: 327 (1896)
Cephalanthera rubra lusus albiflora (Harz) Touss. & Hoschedé, Fl. Vernon: 254 (1898)
Cephalanthera rubra f. latior Zapał., Consp. Fl. Gallic. Crit. 1: 222 (1906)
Cephalanthera rubra var. tenczyniensis Zapał., Consp. Fl. Gallic. Crit. 1: 222 (1906)
Epipactis rubra var. parviflora (Harz) W.Zimm., Form. Orch. Deut.: 82 (1912)
Cephalanthera rubra f. parviflora (Harz) Soó, Arch. Bot. (Leipzig) 23: 115 (1928)
Cephalanthera rubra f. tenczyniensis (Zapał.) Soó, Arch. Bot. (Leipzig) 23: 115 (1928)
Cephalanthera rubra var. leucantha Bordz., in Fl. RSS Ucr. 3: 349 (1950)
Cephalanthera rubra f. alba Raynaud, Orchid. Maroc: 93 (1985), no type indicated
Cephalanthera rubra f. comosa (Tineo) Robatsch, Wulfenia 7: 104 (2000)

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Europe
Northern Europe
Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden.
Middle Europe
Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands †, Poland, Switzerland.
Southwestern Europe
Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain.
Southeastern Europe
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti (in error), Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia.
Eastern Europe
Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine.
Africa
Northern Africa
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia.
Asia-Temperate
Middle Asia
Turkmenistan.
Caucasus
North Caucasus, Transcaucasus.
Western Asia
Cyprus East Aegean Islands, Iran, Turkey.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Richard, L.C.M. 1818. Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle 4: 60.

Additional references

Dimopoulos, P., Raus, Th., Bergmeier, E., Constantinidis, Th., Iatroú, G., Kokkini, S., Strid, A. & Tzanoudakis, D. 2013. Vascular Plants of Greece: An Annotated Checklist. Englera 31: 1–368 (!115). Reference page.

Links

Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2021. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Cephalanthera rubra. Accessed: 2021 Apr 22.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Cephalanthera rubra in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 22. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Cephalanthera rubra in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 22. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2021. Cephalanthera rubra. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 22. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Cephalanthera rubra. Published online. Accessed: 22 Apr 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Cephalanthera rubra. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 22.

Vernacular names

беларуская: Пылкагалоўнік чырвоны
български: Червен главопрашник
català: Curraià vermell
čeština: Okrotice červená
Cymraeg: Y galdrist goch
dansk: Rød Skovlilje
Deutsch: Rotes Waldvöglein
English: Red helleborine
eesti: Punane tolmpea
suomi: Punavalkku
français: Céphalanthère rouge
hornjoserbsce: Čerwjena ptačulinka
magyar: Piros madársisak
italiano: Cefalantera rossa
lietuvių: Raudonasis garbenis
latviešu: Sarkanā cefalantēra
norsk bokmål: Rød skogfrue
Nederlands: Rood bosvogeltje
polski: Buławnik czerwony
русский: Пыльцеголовник красный
slovenčina: Prilbovka červená
svenska: Röd skogslilja, Rödsyssla
українська: Булатка червона

Cephalanthera rubra, known as red helleborine,[2] 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.

Description

Each flowering shoots reach 20–70 cm height. The shoots grow from a creeping rhizome. The stem is smooth at the base and densely covered with short glandular hairs higher up. The shoots have between 2 and 8 lanceolate leaves which range in size from 5 to 14 cm long and from 1 to 3 cm wide. Each shoot may carry up to 20 flowers, which may be pink to red or rarely white. They are up to 5 cm wide. The petals are curved and lanceolate. Flowers are produced from May to July.[3] It is known to sometimes go many years without flowering. Chromosomes 2n=36

Not to be confused with Epipactis atrorubens (dark red helleborine).
Close up image of the flower.
Distribution and habitat

The red helleborine is found throughout most of Europe, east to the Urals and as far as 60 degrees north. It is however rare in Britain, the Low Countries and western France. It also occurs in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and in various parts of southern Asia as far east as Iran.[4][1][5]

Found in light, dry forest, particularly among beech trees, pines and spruces. grows to an altitude of 2,600 m (8,500 ft), especially on calcareous soils with a pH between 5.9–8.2. Flower colour is an indicator of the soil qualities, with darker blooms on more calcareous ground.

Red helleborine is a very rare plant in Britain. It is found only at the following sites:

Workman's Wood, Sheepscombe, Gloucestershire[6][7][8]
Hawkley Warren, Hampshire,[6] where it was first found in 1986.[9]
Windsor Hill SSSI, a woodland just to the east of Princes Risborough in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire[6][10]

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the species was recorded from single sites in Somerset, Sussex and Kent, and a second Hampshire site (in the upper Test Valley). The species was also recorded at additional Gloucestershire sites (including Stanley Wood, King's Stanley, now a Woodland Trust woodland), and persisted at some of these into the 1970s. It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.[11]
Ecology

Cephalanthera rubra is thought to be mainly pollinated by flies, although often self-pollination is triggered by rainfall.[12] Pollination may also be carried out by Chelostoma bee (Chelostoma campanularum?) and the weevil Miarus campanulae, both of which are thought to mistake the flowers for Campanula persicifolia, a wildflower found on mountains in continental Europe. It is theorised that C. rubra mimics C. persicifolia to increase pollination early in the year.[12]

As the flowers are frequently visited by flies, crab spiders have been observed hunting in them.[12]

C. rubra forms a mycorrhizal relationship with species in the genera Leptodontidium, Phialophora and Tomentella. This enables it to access soil nutrients which would otherwise be unavailable.[13]
Etymology

Cephalanthera comes from the Greek κεφαλή ανθηρός, meaning "head flowering", thought to be a reference to the protruding position of the anthers. The species epithet rubra comes from the Latin for red, referring to the colour of the flowers. The Latin binomial was chosen by a French botanist named Professor Louis Claude Marie Richard.

"Helleborine" may refer to deer using the orchid for food (many conservationists have noted that helleborine orchids are grazed by deer [14][15][16]). Alternatively it may denote that the plants are similar to hellebores (a group of species in the family Ranunculaceae). "Hellebore" comes from the Greek "álkē" and "bora", translating as "fawn" and "food of beasts".[17]

In German, Cephalanthera are referred to as Waldvöglein, meaning little birds of the wood, a reference to the winged appearance of the flowers.
References

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
First Nature - Cephalanthera rubra
Harrap, Anne and Simon (2005). Orchids of Britain and Ireland: a Field and Site Guide. A&C Black. pp. 134–40. ISBN 0-7136-6956-X.
Altervista Flora Italiana, Cefalantera rossa, Red Helleborine, Cephalanthera rubra
Species distribution map for Cephalanthera rubra Archived 2016-11-04 at the Wayback Machine, NBN Gateway, retrieved 25 February 2010
Kitchen, Clare, Mark A. R. Kitchen and Ian Carle (2008) Stephen Bishop's New Flora of Gloucestershire Part 2: the distribution maps The Gloucestershire Naturalist No. 14 Gloucestershire Naturalists ' Society, page 232
Fisher, John (1991) A colour guide to rare wild flowers ISBN 0-09-470780-4 Constable books, London
Rose, F. and A. Brewis (1988) Short notes: Cephalanthera rubra in Hampshire Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Watsonia 17: 176-77
Ratcliffe, D. A. (1977) A Nature Conservation Review Volume 2. Site Accounts p. 53 ISBN 0-521-21403-3
"Caithness CWS - Caithness Field Club - Annual Bulletins - 1975 - October - Conservation".
Beobachtung von Miarus campanulae als Bestäuber von Cephalanthera rubra
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Changing Partners in the Dark: Isotopic and Molecular Evidence of Ectomycorrhizal Liaisons between Forest Orchids and Trees
Plantlife - Epipactis youngiana
Wildflower Society Online Report
Finnish Orchids
Dictionary.com