This species was first described
from Lombardy, Italy by Bongiorni and Grunanger in 1993, being named after the town of Plaisance near which it was discovered.
E. placentina
has a wide but extremely fragmented distribution through central Europe
but largely centred on northern Italy. It may also be found in
Southern France, Sicily, Slovakia and as far south as an isolated small
population in the Dalmatia region of Croatia. This is a rare orchid and
for a variety of reasons, getting rarer in many parts of its range. In
some regions it is disappearing completely and in others it simply does
not flower. The primary reason for this dismal situation is the year on
year drought conditions which are affecting southern Europe generally
and the Italian Appenines in particular.
E. placentina is one of the more colourful and distinctive members of the
Epipactis
group but is perhaps most easily identified by the regular, alternate
leaf spacing on the lower stem. This can be readily seen in the final
two photos of a robust plant growing in virtually full sun. It will
also be noted how pale green the leaves become when subject to good
light conditions. This species, although a woodland plant, prefers a
position in some light at the forest edge and as already mentioned,
where tree felling has exposed it, it can tolerate almost full sun.
The inflorescence is lax, consisting of up to thirty flowers though
more normally and in shady positions, ten would be more usual. The
sepals and epichile are strongly coloured magenta and the hypochile is
nectar producing and a stunning deep red in colour. The photographs are
from a woodland colony in Dalmatia and an open ground
population in Isere, southern France.