[Epipactis (Hall.) Zinn, Cat. PI. Hort. Goett. 85. 1757.] Tall stout herbs with fibrous roots and simple leafy stems. Leaves ovate or lanceolate, plicate, clasping. Flowers leafy-bracted, in terminal racemes. Sepals and petals all separate. Spur none. Lip free, sessile, broad, concave below, constricted near the middle, the upper portion dilated and petal-like. Column short, erect. Anther operculate, borne on the margin of the clinandrium, erect, ovate or semiglobose, its sacs contiguous. Pollinia 2-parted, granulose, becoming attached to the glandular beak of the stigma. Capsule oblong, beakless. [Named for Serapis, an Egyptian deity.]

About 10 species, widely distributed. Besides the following typical species, another occurs in the western United States.

1. Serapias Helleborine L. Helleborine. Bastard Hellebore

Fig. 1388

Serapias Helleborine L. Sp. PI. 949. 1753.

Serapias viridiflora Hoffm. Deutsch. Fl. 2: 182. 1804.

Epipactis latifolia var. viridiflora Irm. Linnaea 16: 451.

1842. Epipactis viridiflora Reichb. Fl. Exc. 134. 1830.

Stem 1°-2° high, glabrous below, pubescent above. Leaves ovate or lanceolate, obtuse or acute, 1 1/2'-3' long, 9'-1 1/2' wide; flowers greenish yellow to purple; pedicels 2"-3" long; sepals 4"-5" long, lanceolate; petals narrower; lip expanded into a slightly undulate apex, tapering to a point; bracts lanceolate, longer than the flowers.

Quebec and Ontario to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Local; probably introduced. Widely distributed in Europe. July-Aug.