Urban wild orchids

PA040014
Originally uploaded by meadow moon

I discovered my first wild Ontario orchid last week, just down the road from where we are staying, next to Lake Ontario. Sasha suggested it is an Epipactis, and I suspect it is Epipactis helleborine, which we also have in Victoria!

I did a little bit of research and apparently this is not a native orchid to Ontario, but was introduced from Europe and has since naturalized. According to the Quarterly Newsletter of the Long Island Botanical Society (Vol. 14, No. 4, Fall 2004, p.6), E. helleborine was first recorded in North America near Syracuse, in 1879.