Herminium monorchis(L.) R.Br.

Musk orchidmusk orchid

WFO wfo-0000981680 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Herminium monorchis, photographed by Нурхайдарова Татьяна
fig. a Нурхайдарова Татьяна, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-06 / obs. 134608685
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Alexander Dubynin
fig. b Alexander Dubynin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 42096324
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Alexander Dubynin
fig. c Alexander Dubynin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 40732219
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Natalya Ivanova
fig. d Natalya Ivanova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 9938844
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Alexander Dubynin
fig. e Alexander Dubynin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 28196213
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Gilles San Martin
fig. f Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 35147026
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Юлия
fig. g Юлия, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 84889537
Herminium monorchis, photographed by Юлия
fig. h Юлия, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 79081750

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 54 botanical countries

Regions where Herminium monorchis is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Assam, East Himalaya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiTibetTranscaucasusTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaAssamEast HimalayaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine Korea
Native distribution of Herminium monorchis, 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
Austria AUT EUROPE
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
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

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 34 in flower of 34 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Herminium monorchis 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. 34 of 34 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 10 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 14 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.

  • Arachnites monorchis (L.) Hoffm.
  • Epipactis monorchis (L.) F.W.Schmidt
  • Herminium alaschanicum var. tanguticum Maxim.
  • Herminium clandestinum Gren. & Godr.
  • Herminium haridasanii A.N.Rao
  • Herminium tanguticum (Maxim.) Rolfe
  • Monorchis herminium O.Schwarz
  • Ophrys herminium Gren.
  • Ophrys monorchis L.
  • Ophrys triorchis St.-Lag.
  • Orchis herminium Gren.
  • Orchis monorchis Crantz
  • Orchis monorchis (L.) Crantz
  • Satyrium monorchis (L.) Pers.

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.