Malaxis monophyllos(L.) Sw.

White Adder's Mouthadder's-mouth orchid

WFO wfo-0000234036 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Malaxis monophyllos, photographed by Conrad Altmann
fig. a Conrad Altmann, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-07-18 / obs. 85507125

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 76 botanical countries

Regions where Malaxis monophyllos is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Manchuria, Mongolia, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Taiwan, Tibet, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Nepal, Philippines, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, Vermont, Wisconsin, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTaiwanTibetTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaNepalPhilippinesAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyItalyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoConnecticutIllinoisIndianaLabradorMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanVermontWisconsinYukon Korea
Native distribution of Malaxis monophyllos, 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
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Wisconsin WIS
Yukon YUK
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
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Italy ITA
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
Nepal NEP ASIA-TROPICAL
Philippines PHI

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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 106 in flower of 142 examined

Proportion of examined Malaxis monophyllos in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 0 0 too few examined
Feb 0 0 too few examined
Mar 0 0 too few examined
Apr 0 0 too few examined
May 0 1 too few examined
Jun 25 28 89% 73% to 96%
Jul 72 76 95% 87% to 98%
Aug 9 33 27% 15% to 44%
Sep 0 4 too few examined
Oct 0 0 too few examined
Nov 0 0 too few examined
Dec 0 0 too few examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Malaxis monophyllos 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. 106 of 142 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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,347 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -25.9 °C -16.9 °C -1.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 15.1 °C 21.7 °C 24.4 °C
Annual rainfall 386 mm 710 mm 3,074 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 18 mm 85 mm 405 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,347 research-grade observations of Malaxis monophyllos 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 43 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.

  • Achroanthes acuminata Raf.
  • Achroanthes cilifolia Raf.
  • Achroanthes monophylla (L.) Greene
  • Achroanthes monophylla f. diphyllos (Cham. & Schltdl.) Koidz. ex Masam.
  • Achroanthes monophyllos (L.) Greene
  • Achroanthes monophyllos f. diphyllos (Cham.) Koidz. ex Masam.
  • Dienia gmelinii Lindl.
  • Epipactis monophylla (L.) F.W.Schmidt
  • Leptorchis japonica (Maxim.) Kuntze
  • Leptorkis japonica (Miq.) Kuntze
  • Liparis inconspicua Makino
  • Liparis japonica (Miq.) Maxim.
  • Malaxis arisanensis (Hayata) S.Y.Hu
  • Malaxis brachypoda (A.Gray) Fernald
  • Malaxis brachypoda f. bifolia (Mousley) Fernald
  • Malaxis diphyllos Cham.
  • Malaxis monophyllos f. bifolia Mousley
  • Malaxis monophyllos f. diphyllos (Cham.) Soó
  • Malaxis monophyllos f. monophyllos
  • Malaxis monophyllos f. triphyllos Soó
  • Malaxis monophyllos subsp. brachypoda (A.Gray) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Malaxis monophyllos var. diphyllos (Cham.) Luer
  • Malaxis muscifera var. stelostachya Tang & F.T.Wang
  • Malaxis taiwaniana S.S.Ying

and 19 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.