Spiranthes sinensis(Pers.) Ames

Chinese Spiranthes

WFO wfo-0000313440 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by chiuluan
fig. a chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-21 / obs. 184271600
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by chiuluan
fig. b chiuluan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 182325677
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by 葉子
fig. c 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 124575558
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by 高山田鼠
fig. d 高山田鼠, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 76653351
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by 葉子
fig. e 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 68692365
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by 葉子
fig. f 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 67288474
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by 葉子
fig. g 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 67286640
Spiranthes sinensis, photographed by 國立臺灣博物館
fig. h 國立臺灣博物館, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 63143402

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 17 botanical countries

Regions where Spiranthes sinensis is native: Réunion, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Laos, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Vietnam, Western Australia, New Caledonia China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoLaosMyanmarNew GuineaPhilippinesVietnamWestern AustraliaNew Caledonia RéunionNansei-shoto
Native distribution of Spiranthes sinensis, 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
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Laos LAO
Myanmar MYA
New Guinea NWG
Philippines PHI
Vietnam VIE
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI
Réunion REU AFRICA
Western Australia WAU AUSTRALASIA
New Caledonia NWC PACIFIC

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.

Also published as 25 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.

  • Aristotelea spiralis Lour.
  • Epidendrum aristotelea Raeusch.
  • Gyrostachys amoena Blume
  • Gyrostachys australis var. sinensis (Pers.) Blume
  • Ibidium spirale (Lour.) Makino
  • Neottia australis var. chinensis Ker Gawl.
  • Neottia australis var. chinensis Lindl.
  • Neottia pudica (Lindl.) Sweet
  • Neottia sinensis Pers.
  • Sarcoglottis pudica (Lindl.) P.N.Don
  • Spiranthes aristotelea Merr.
  • Spiranthes australis var. pudica (Lindl.) F.Muell.
  • Spiranthes australis var. sinensis (Pers.) Gagnep.
  • Spiranthes australis var. suishaensis Hayata
  • Spiranthes indica Lindl. ex Steud.
  • Spiranthes lancea var. chinensis (Lindl.) Hatus.
  • Spiranthes neocaledonica Schltr.
  • Spiranthes papuana Schltr.
  • Spiranthes pitouchaoensis S.S.Ying
  • Spiranthes pudica Lindl.
  • Spiranthes sinensis f. autumnus Tsukaya
  • Spiranthes sinensis f. gracilis F.Maek. ex Tsukaya
  • Spiranthes spiralis (Lour.) Makino
  • Spiranthes suishaensis (Hayata) Schltr.

and 1 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.