Marsh helleborine

The lime-loving and rare marsh helleborine grows at our coast in humid dune slacks. Inland, it can also be found in so-called calcareous marshes. Pollination of this plant occurs only through certain wasps. The beautiful orchid, which flowers in June and July, spreads via a rhizome, which means that you can sometimes find hundreds to thousands of specimens in one place. By visiting the flower of this orchid, pollen nuggets stick to the wasps. When visiting the next flower, the nuggets are then deposited on the stigma (*).

(*) The stigma is the tip of the pistil (female reproductive organ of a plant), which is responsible for collecting pollen grains.