Epipactis palustris(L.) Crantz

Marsh helleborinemarsh orchid

WFO wfo-0000952194 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Epipactis palustris, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. a Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-08-23 / obs. 152777132
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. b Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 147225651
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Valentin Kosterin
fig. c Valentin Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145341143
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Valentin Kosterin
fig. d Valentin Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145341287
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Valentin Kosterin
fig. e Valentin Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145340812
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Valentin Kosterin
fig. f Valentin Kosterin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145340929
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Jonathan Prior
fig. g Jonathan Prior, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142599950
Epipactis palustris, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. h Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139281149

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 50 botanical countries

Regions where Epipactis palustris is native: Altay, Iran, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AltayIranIrkutskKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMongoliaNorth CaucasusTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Sardegna
Native distribution of Epipactis palustris, 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
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
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
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
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
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX

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 502 in flower of 593 examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Epipactis palustris 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. 502 of 593 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 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 53 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 palustris (L.) A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr.
  • Arthrochilium palustre (L.) Beck
  • Calliphyllon palustre (L.) Bubani
  • Cymbidium palustre (L.) Sw.
  • Epipactis palustris f. albiflora (Lüscher) Verm.
  • Epipactis palustris f. ampla Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. elongata Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. ericetorum (Asch. & Graebn.) Soó
  • Epipactis palustris f. gracilis Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. longibracteata Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. macrostachya Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. ochroleuca (Barla) Verm.
  • Epipactis palustris f. pumila Zapał.
  • Epipactis palustris f. purpurea (Sipkes) Verm.
  • Epipactis palustris f. rectilinguis Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. robusta (Zapał.) Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. silvatica (Asch. & Graebn.) Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris f. submersa Glück
  • Epipactis palustris f. tricolor (Höppner) L.Lewis & Mielcarek
  • Epipactis palustris lus. ochroleuca (Barla) Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris lus. tricolor Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris lus. violacea Höppner
  • Epipactis palustris subsp. salina (Schur) K.Richt.
  • Epipactis palustris var. albiflora Lüscher

and 29 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.