Cephalanthera longifolia reaches on average of height in typical conditions. This orchid has erect and glabrous multiple stems. The leaves are dark green, long and narrowly tapering. The inflorescence is a lax, five to twenty-flowered spike with the bell-shaped flowers ascending in an oblique spiral. The flowers are white, about long, with a yellow-edged labellum and they usually open only during the warmest and brightest hours of the day. This plant can be found in bloom from April to June, depending on location and altitude. The fruit is a dry capsule and the dust-like seed is dispersed by the wind. One unusual characteristic of this species is that some individuals are achlorophyllous and take all their nutrition from mycorrhizal fungi.
Ecology
The flowers are pollinated by solitary burrowing bees. The flowers produce little nectar and the yellowish dust on the labellum which the insects collect is of little nutritional value. The actual pollen is contained in two pollinia which adhere to the hairs on the bee's back. An investigation in Estonia determined that the mycorrhizal partners of this orchid species include Thelephoraceae and Helotiales. Another investigation indicated 9 mycorrhizal partners : Bjerkandera adusta, Phlebia acerina, Sebacinaceae, Tetracladium sp., and Tomentella sp. Cephelanthera longifolia is vulnerable to grazing by deer.
Distribution
Cephalanthera longifolia is common in some parts of its European range, such as southern France and Spain, but endangered particularly in northern areas such as Belgium. In Britain and Ireland it is a quite uncommon and declining species, and conservation work is being carried out at a number of sites to safeguard it. In 2007 it was listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. The charity Plantlife International is leading this work inthe United Kingdom.
Habitat
Sword-leaved Helleborine usually grows in damp woodland places, forest edges and rocky slopes. These plants prefer calcareous soils and in well exposed places, at an altitude of above sea level. This species was once abundant, when forests were used for grazing livestock and trees were coppiced, but is now threatened by overgrowth of larger plants. As the flower spikes are eaten by deer, the sword-leaved helleborine is also threatened by the increase of deer populations following extirpation of large predators like wolf and brown bear in many parts of Europe.
Etymology
The genus nameCephalanthera comes from the Greek κεφαλή kephalē and ἄνθηρα anthēra : the anther is placed at the top of the column. The Latin namelongifolia means with long leaves . "Helleborine" may refer to deer using the orchid for food. Alternatively it may denote that the plants are similar to hellebores. "Hellebore" comes from the Greek "álkē" and "bora", translating as "fawn" and "food of beasts". In German, Cephalanthera are referred to as Waldvöglein, meaning little birds of the wood, a reference to the winged appearance of the flowers.
