Cephalanthera rubra - Red Helleborine - (Orchidaceae)

Rred Helleborine - a perfect specimen found in
Slovenia in mid-June

The Red Helleborine is now both rare and localised in the UK and probably confined solely to southern England where it grows in dark beech woods on calcareous soils. Because it grows in such deep shade it may be possible that there are Red Helleborine plants around that are simply overlooked because of the difficulty of spotting them in such dingy places.

Fortunately they are not so rare in other parts of Europe and we have seen them in southern France (in the Lot Valley) and also in considerable numbers on a shaded roadside verge in the Triglav National Park in Slovenia.

Red Helleborine flowers from May until August and in some countries can be found in oak woods as well as under or close to beech trees.

It grows to around 65cm in height and has usually around 9 or 10 deep pink flowers.

Closeup of the Red Helleborine flower just opening

The flowers on this page were photographed in Slovenia in mid-June. There were a considerable number of plants on the shaded roadside verge, and if this were not surprising enough, they were growing alongside numerous Bird's-nest Orchids (Neottia nidus-avis), Dark-red Helleborines (Epipactis atrorubens) and Lesser Butterfly-orchids (Platanthera bifolia).