Snippets of Wealth - Sat 15th June 2019 - Hutton Roof - Epipactis atrorubens and their varieties

Today I wanted to check out some of the Orchids which we have on Hutton Roof, to check their progress.  With the majority they are coming through OK but most of the larger specimens seem stunted or well behind where they should be by now, so I don't expect any miracles this year. But I am sure there will be plenty to study as the weeks go on.  I am sure it will be another fortnight before we see any flowers.

For today I would like to highlight our specimen No.9a which has come up every year since my first observations on it in 2015 although last year unfortunately it was taken down by predation.  It has always shown as a very pallid form and is in the good company of the No.9 population in which there are several which may take on this rather special pallid form.

Specimen No.9a Epipactis atrorubens var: pallens  (click over to enlarge)

Photo: taken at Hutton Roof on 17th July 2015

Specimen No.9a Epipactis atrorubens var: pallens  (click over to enlarge)

Photo: taken at Hutton Roof on 8th July 2017

Specimen No.9a Epipactis atrorubens var: pallens  (click over to enlarge)

Photo: taken at Hutton Roof on 8th July 2017

Specimen No.9a Epipactis atrorubens var: pallens  (click over to enlarge)

Photo: taken at Hutton Roof on 15th June 2019

Specimen No.9a Epipactis atrorubens var: pallens  (click over to enlarge)

Photo: taken at Hutton Roof on 15th June 2019

Now then what is so interesting about this particular plant is that it shows no red in the base stem or basal leaf, which is so unusual, although sometimes the flowers on this specimen can show more red than usual.

Generally I have found that in all pallen forms it is usual to get some sort of atrorubens (red) influence somewhere on the plant and in 99 times out of one hundred it would show in the base stem and basal leaf, but here we have a exception to the rule, which makes it so much more interesting for the study.

Here below is another very interesting plant which is known as Specimen Lutescens No.1 which I found back in 2014 and it has been successful each year since. It again is yet another sort of 'pallid' form and never seems to grow much above 10" in height. It has a bicolor look about it in that the petals are a lemony yellow colour and the sepals are more of a reddish wash colour along with the ovary and stem also being darker, but what is rather striking about this specimen is the cream epichile and bosses, before I do show today's photo let me show you how it has looked back in 2014 which has not changed much in appearance up to last year.

Epipactis atrorubens var: Lutescens (Click over to enlarge)

Photo: Hutton Roof 2014

Epipactis atrorubens var: Lutescens (Click over to enlarge)

Photo: Hutton Roof 15th June 2019

And here below is yet another one of our special orchids which looks like it may be OK this year......