Lindl.
Description
Epipactis royleana Lindl. is a terrestrial orchid of central and western Asia and the Himalaya, with GBIF documenting some 262 occurrences across Nepal, India, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Bhutan, Myanmar and Russia, with scattered records farther afield. It typically grows in moist habitats such as streamsides, marshy meadows, seepage slopes and open coniferous woodland from the montane to subalpine zones, often between about 1500 and 3500 m. The plant photographed at Lara-Lake in West Nepal, at roughly 3000 m in June, illustrates its preference for the damp, lake-margin grasslands of the high Himalayan valleys.
The species is a rhizomatous perennial with erect, leafy stems arising from a short creeping rootstock. The leaves are alternate, ovate to lanceolate, sheathing at the base and prominently veined. The inflorescence is a lax, one-sided terminal raceme of several to many resupinate flowers; each flower has spreading, greenish to purplish-tinged sepals and petals, with a labellum divided into a cup-like basal hypochile and a triangular, often pinkish epichile. As in all Epipactis, the column bears a single anther and the pollinia are mealy, and the fruit is a pendulous, ridged capsule releasing dust-like seeds.
Epipactis is a Holarctic genus in which Himalayan and central Asian taxa form a distinct group; E. royleana is among the more widespread members, exhibiting considerable variation in flower colour across its range. Like other members of the genus it depends on mycorrhizal fungi for germination and early establishment, and its small seeds are wind-dispersed. The species is not currently regarded as threatened across its broad distribution, though, as a wetland-associated orchid, local populations are sensitive to drainage and habitat disturbance.
Author: Lindl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Nepal, Delforge Orchids of Europe and Asia