My friend wonders what these plants are. They come up in her garden. She's lived there more than 20 years and they came with the property (North Vancouver.) She describes them as lily-like, and the bloom colours vary. My only guess is a Fritillaria of some sort. Am I in the ballpark?
Looks like Epipactis helleborine...common name broad leaves helleborine. I am very envious of her gorgeous plant epipactis helleborine - Google Search Epipactis helleborine - Wikipedia
Wonderful! Thanks Silver Surfer! Its preferred conditions match her garden. I see it's also billed as 'the weedy orchid,' though I'd be inclined to indulge it, too. This from U of Michigan in 2016: Homeowners battling a weedy orchid invading lawns and flowerbeds
If you examine it at flowering time this species has the typical orchid floral morphology, that is of course unlike that of fritillaries and lilies.
I suspect Epipactis helleborine is becoming more widespread . . . it turned up for the first time in my garden a few years ago and is self-seeding everywhere. Friends on the Lower Mainland report finding them too and, like me, are having trouble getting rid of them. Bits of rhizome left in the ground can continue to grow; glyphosate is not terribly effective. Many plants we admire in small numbers become nuisances when they propagate themselves too enthusiastically.
Nice plant. As it is very often the case with introduced by humans plants where they do not belong, can become a nuisance on the American continent. Resorting to glyphosate to fight it looks to me like a great exaggeration though.
I agree. Glyphosate is too expensive to waste on small numbers of plants that can probably be eradicated by mechanical means.
