Cephalanthera longifolia(L.) Fritsch

Sword-leaved helleborine

WFO wfo-0000829212 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by CorentinD
fig. a CorentinD, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-02 / obs. 203299434
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by David Sandler
fig. b David Sandler, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201008328
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by Tobias Schönberg
fig. c Tobias Schönberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201078724
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by Tobias Schönberg
fig. d Tobias Schönberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201079456
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by Wolfgang Jauch
fig. e Wolfgang Jauch, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201051872
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by Elias
fig. f Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199376203
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by nbasargin
fig. g nbasargin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200840335
Cephalanthera longifolia, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. h Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199190406

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 62 botanical countries

Regions where Cephalanthera longifolia is native: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Aegean Is., Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Assam, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastEast Aegean Is.IranJapanKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineTadzhikistanTaiwanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeUzbekistanWest SiberiaAssamEast HimalayaMyanmarNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Cephalanthera longifolia, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Tadzhikistan TZK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 2,127 in flower of 2,361 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Cephalanthera longifolia observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 2,127 of 2,361 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,003 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -9.2 °C -3.3 °C 6.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.5 °C 23.7 °C 29.0 °C
Annual rainfall 592 mm 1,030 mm 1,855 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 30 mm 168 mm 340 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,003 research-grade observations of Cephalanthera longifolia that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 62 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cephalanthera acuminata Wall. ex Lindl.
  • Cephalanthera alpicola Fukuy.
  • Cephalanthera alpicola var. shizuoi (F.Maek.) T.Hashim.
  • Cephalanthera angustifolia Simonk.
  • Cephalanthera conferta (B.Baumann & H.Baumann) Kreutz
  • Cephalanthera elegans Schltr.
  • Cephalanthera ensifolia (Ehrh.) Rich.
  • Cephalanthera ensifolia (Murr.) Rich.
  • Cephalanthera ensifolia var. acuminata (Wall. ex Lindl.) Tang & F.T.Wang
  • Cephalanthera ensifolia var. cesari-gonzalezii Rivas Goday & Bellot
  • Cephalanthera ensifolia var. maravignae (Tineo) Nyman
  • Cephalanthera erecta var. shizuoi (F.Maek.) Ohwi ex K.Inoue
  • Cephalanthera grandiflora Gray
  • Cephalanthera lonchophylla Rchb.f.
  • Cephalanthera longifolia f. angustifolia Maire & Weiller
  • Cephalanthera longifolia f. conformis Suetsugu & H.Hayak.
  • Cephalanthera longifolia f. latifolia (Maire) Maire & Weiller
  • Cephalanthera longifolia f. longibracteata (Harz) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Cephalanthera longifolia f. pilosa (Harz) Soó
  • Cephalanthera longifolia f. pumila Asch. & Graebn.
  • Cephalanthera longifolia subsp. conferta B.Baumann & H.Baumann
  • Cephalanthera longifolia var. gibbosa Boiss.
  • Cephalanthera longifolia var. latifolia (Maire) D.Rivera & Lopez Velez
  • Cephalanthera longifolia var. pilosa Harz

and 38 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.