Liparis nervosa(Thunb.) Lindl.

pantropical widelip orchid

WFO wfo-0000228357 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 6 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 6 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Liparis nervosa, photographed by harum.koh
fig. a harum.koh, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2015-07-20 / obs. 2202645

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
58821
Filed as
Liparis nervosa (Thunb.) Lindl.
Det. by
E. A. Christenson 1987-01-01
Collected
N. L. Britton 1908-03-27
Origin
JM
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 87 botanical countries

Regions where Liparis nervosa is native: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Florida, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Caroline Is., Marianas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. AngolaBeninBurundiCameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaLiberiaNigeriaRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralChina SoutheastJapanTaiwanTibetAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosMalayaMalukuMyanmarNepalPhilippinesSri LankaSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaFloridaMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela RéunionKoreaNansei-shotoCaroline Is.MarianasGalápagosLeeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Liparis nervosa, 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
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
Liberia LBR
Nigeria NGA
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Marianas MRN

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 321 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -0.1 °C 6.9 °C 15.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.1 °C 28.1 °C 31.9 °C
Annual rainfall 1,224 mm 1,675 mm 4,246 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 7 mm 208 mm 449 mm

It is found where winters bring light 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 321 research-grade observations of Liparis nervosa 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.

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.

  • Cymbidium bituberculatum Hook.
  • Cymbidium nervosum (Thunb.) Sw.
  • Diteilis elata (Lindl.) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones
  • Diteilis nepalensis Raf.
  • Diteilis nervosa (Thunb.) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones
  • Dituilis nepalensis Raf.
  • Empusa nervosa (Thunb.) T.C.Hsu
  • Epidendrum nervosum (Thunb.) Thunb.
  • Iebine nervosa (Thunb.) Raf.
  • Leptorchis bituberculata (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis eggersii (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis elata (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis guineensis (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis guingangae (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis kappleri (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis macrocarpa (Hook.f.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis nervosa (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis odontostoma (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis odorata (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorchis olivacea (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorkis bituberculata (Hook.) Kuntze
  • Leptorkis eggersii (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Leptorkis elata (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Leptorkis guineensis (Lindl.) Kuntze

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol LIEL2. public domain. 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.