Description
Epipactis mairei makes vigorous stems from 30-70 cm tall from notably short rhizomes which bear long, slender, vertical yellowish roots.
The pubescent stem has five to eight, ribbed, dark green leaves and then a 10-20 cm spike which usually bears about 10-20, slightly nodding, flowers. Each of these is about 1.5 cm across and a little longer.
The sepals of the flowers vary from an attractive Indian-red to almost orange-red at one extreme, or greenish-orange at the other. The petals and lip are a brighter orange or orange-red, with contrasting yellow pollinia.
This likes similar conditions to species such as gigantea and palustris in cultivation.
The species is widespread in the wild across China, Bhutan and Myanmar but seems rare in cultivation, despite being one of the most attractive. These are artificially propagated divisions of a Japanese nursery stock obtained from Germany!
NOT available for U.S.A., Norway, Switzerland, etc.
Epipactis are no longer shipped outside of the UK and EU.
