Neottia cordata(L.) Rich.

Lesser Twaybladeheartleaf twayblade

WFO wfo-0000250516 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Neottia cordata, photographed by Derek
fig. a Derek, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-01 / obs. 202591703
Neottia cordata, photographed by Braden J. Judson
fig. b Braden J. Judson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 198921803
Neottia cordata, photographed by Erin Springinotic
fig. c Erin Springinotic, CC0 1.0 / obs. 159516744
Neottia cordata, photographed by Cecelia Alexander
fig. d Cecelia Alexander, CC0 1.0 / obs. 145744394
Neottia cordata, photographed by Randal
fig. e Randal, CC0 1.0 / obs. 141086627
Neottia cordata, photographed by nina_nesterova
fig. f nina_nesterova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 141615034
Neottia cordata, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. g Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 135745234
Neottia cordata, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. h Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 135745276

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 89 botanical countries

Regions where Neottia cordata is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, North Caucasus, Primorye, Sakhalin, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AltayAmurBuryatiyaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskMagadanNorth CaucasusPrimoryeSakhalinTranscaucasusTürkiyeWest SiberiaYakutiyaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceIcelandIrelandItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutGreenlandIdahoLabradorMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaNunavutOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon FøroyarDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Neottia cordata, 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
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
District of Columbia WDC
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
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
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Iceland ICE
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Magadan MAG
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Sakhalin SAK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain, 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 396 in flower of 468 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Neottia cordata 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. 396 of 468 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 6 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 2,017 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -18.9 °C -7.8 °C 4.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 14.1 °C 19.7 °C 25.9 °C
Annual rainfall 651 mm 1,425 mm 3,422 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 58 mm 163 mm 429 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,017 research-grade observations of Neottia cordata 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 30 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.

  • Bifolium cordatum (L.) Nieuwl.
  • Cymbidium cordatum (L.) Londes
  • Diphryllum cordatum (L.) Kuntze
  • Distomaea cordata (L.) Spenn.
  • Epipactis cordata (L.) All.
  • Helleborine cordata (L.) F.W.Schmidt
  • Listera cordata (L.) R.Br.
  • Listera cordata f. crassa V.N.Vassil.
  • Listera cordata f. disjuncta Lepage
  • Listera cordata f. pallida C.G.H.Thed.
  • Listera cordata f. rubescens P.M.Br.
  • Listera cordata f. tenuis V.N.Vassil.
  • Listera cordata f. tetraphylla Lavoie
  • Listera cordata f. trifolia P.M.Br.
  • Listera cordata f. trifolia (Asch. & Graebn.) Pauca & Stefur.
  • Listera cordata f. variegata P.M.Br.
  • Listera cordata f. viridens P.M.Br.
  • Listera cordata lus. trifolia Asch. & Graebn.
  • Listera cordata subsp. japonica (H.Hara) F.Maek.
  • Listera cordata subsp. nephrophylla (Rydb.) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Listera cordata var. chlorantha Beauverd
  • Listera cordata var. japonica H.Hara
  • Listera cordata var. nephrophylla (Rydb.) Hultén
  • Listera nephrophylla Rydb.

and 6 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.