Orchid Invader - Epipactis helleborine

While on my walk in the woods near Royal Roads University last week I noticed this little flowering plant. The flowers are very small, about the size of your little fingernail. When I stooped to look at it more closely I realized it was probably another of our local orchids and it is, although it is an invader from Europe, apparently arriving on this continent in 1879. This is Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine). Lewis J. Clark (Wildflowers of British Columbia), who rises to poetry in his descriptions of almost anything that comes out of the ground in this province, describes Helleborine as "...an invasive, almost weedy plant." But though it's quite modest in comparison with its more colorful and larger relatives, I was pleased to add another local wild orchid to my collection.