Epipogium aphyllum

Epipogium aphyllum, the ghost orchid, is a hardy mycoheterotrophic orchid lacking chlorophyll. In much of its range, it is a rare representative of family Orchidaceae. It is famous for its unpredictable appearance; in many localities it has been seen just once. It is found in beech, oak, pine, and spruce forests of Europe and Asia, on base-rich soils. It is a rare and critically endangered plant in Britain; it was believed to be extinct throughout much of its former range, although in 2009 and in 2024 it was re-confirmed, where the plants were believed to have become extinct. The plants are protected in many locales, and removing the plants from habitat or disturbing the plants, even for scientific study, can be a very serious matter in many jurisdictions. These plants are exceptionally rare and should never be removed from habitat or disturbed. In 1926 the Welsh botanist Eleanor Vachell was asked by the British Museum to investigate a report of the ghost orchid in England. For many years the Welsh National Herbarium at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales) had only a small rhizome that had been gathered by Vachell on 29 May 1926.