Epipactis microphylla(Ehrh.) Sw.

Small-leaved Helleborine

WFO wfo-0000952160 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. a Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-07-26 / obs. 86952838
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by antrum
fig. b antrum, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 82532210
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Fabien Piednoir
fig. c Fabien Piednoir, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 17863825
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Yuliana Leshchenko
fig. d Yuliana Leshchenko, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205240219
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Yves Bas
fig. e Yves Bas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 140141395
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Denis Bastianelli
fig. f Denis Bastianelli, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 131891047
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Gabriel Mayrhofer
fig. g Gabriel Mayrhofer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 59033059
Epipactis microphylla, photographed by Gabriel Mayrhofer
fig. h Gabriel Mayrhofer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 59033238

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 26 botanical countries

Regions where Epipactis microphylla is native: Algeria, Cyprus, Iran, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain AlgeriaCyprusIranNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSiciliaSpain BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Epipactis microphylla, 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
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Algeria ALG AFRICA

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 61 in flower of 104 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Epipactis microphylla 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. 61 of 104 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 9 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.

Also published as 32 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.

  • Amesia microphylla (Ehrh.) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.
  • Epipactis athensis Lej.
  • Epipactis atrorubens Rostk. ex Spreng.
  • Epipactis helleborine var. canescens (Irmisch) Rchb.f.
  • Epipactis helleborine var. microphylla (Ehrh.) Rchb.f.
  • Epipactis helleborine var. nuda (Irmisch) Rchb.f.
  • Epipactis intermedia Schur
  • Epipactis latifolia subsp. microphylla (Ehrh.) Bonnier & Layens
  • Epipactis latifolia subsp. parvifolia (Pers.) K.Richt.
  • Epipactis latifolia var. microphylla (Ehrh.) DC.
  • Epipactis latifolia var. microphylla (Ehrh.) Irmisch
  • Epipactis microphylla f. canescens (Irmisch) E.G.Camus
  • Epipactis microphylla subsp. cossyrensis Brullo
  • Epipactis microphylla subsp. intermedia (Schur) K.Richt.
  • Epipactis microphylla var. canescens Irmisch
  • Epipactis microphylla var. cossyrensis (Brullo) Biagioli, Kreutz & De Simoni
  • Epipactis microphylla var. firmior Schur
  • Epipactis microphylla var. glabrescens Velen.
  • Epipactis microphylla var. intermedia Schur
  • Epipactis microphylla var. nuda Irmisch
  • Helleborine microphylla (Ehrh.) Schinz & Thell.
  • Helleborine microphylla f. firmior (Schur) Soó
  • Helleborine microphylla f. nuda (Irmisch) Soó
  • Helleborine microphylla var. canescens (Irmisch) Graber

and 8 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.