''Neottia ovata'' (formerly ''Listera ovata''), the common twayblade or eggleaf twayblade, is a terrestrial orchid widespread across much of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Description

The flowering stems are typically tall, occasionally up to . There are two large opposite basal leaves, long. A variable number of flowers is borne on the stems, usually more than 15 but less than 100. The flowers are small and yellowish-green in colour. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s and the two side petals form a fairly open hood, 5–6 mm (0.2 in) long; the labellum or lip (the central petal) is long and is divided at the end into two lobes. Due to its slender profile, small flowers and green colour this species can be hard to spot.

Distribution and habitat

Found across much of Europe including the

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, as well as

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Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

Southwest Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

and the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

. It has been introduced into

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where it has been called the eggleaf twayblade. (as ''Listera ovata'') ''Neottia ovata'' grows in a variety of habitats: woods, meadows, dune-slacks and moorland.

Ecology

The flower of ''Neottia ovata'' is well accessible for a wide range of insects. It is above all pollinated by parasitic

wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

sawflies Sawflies are the insects of the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay ...

and beetles. The

pollinia A pollinium (plural pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchids and many species of mil ...

lie free on top of the gutter-shaped

rostellum The rostellum is a projecting part of the column in Orchidaceae flowers, and separates the male androecium from the female gynoecium, commonly preventing self-fertilisation. In many orchids, such as '' Orchis mascula'', the pollinia or pollen ma ...

, an organ that is filled with viscid fluid. When an insect touches the sensitive tip of the rostellum, the viscid fluid is ejected and glues the pollinia to the visitor's body. Fruit set is quite high. Over 60 species of mycorrhizal fungi have been indicated to form associations with ''N. ovata''. ''Neottia ovata'' is one of the most common European orchid species, and this is partially explained by it being less species-selective both in terms of pollinators and mycorrhizal partners. It is also an inconspicuous species, blending in to vegetation, which saves it from being picked by humans, a fate endangering many of the showier orchid species. Despite its relative success, there is evidence that populations are declining.

Taxonomy

''Neottia'' is

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

for bird's nest, and comes from the appearance of the roots in ''

Neottia nidus-avis ''Neottia nidus-avis'', the bird's-nest orchid, is a non-photosynthetic orchid, native to Europe, Russia and some parts of the Middle East. Description ''Neottia nidus-avis'' grows to tall and each shoot can carry up to 60 flowers. Plants ar ...

''.South West Colorado Wildflowers
/ref> The species epithet ''ovata'' comes from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ovatus, meaning ovate or egg-shaped, and describing the leaves of the plant. Twayblade is an old

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

word meaning two-leaf. The common name in Germany (Zweiblatt) is very similar and has the same meaning. Common twayblade was formerly placed in the genus ''Listera'', but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that ''

'', the bird's-nest orchid, evolved within the same group,, p. 864 and the two genera have been combined.

References

* CLAESSENS, J. & J. KLEYNEN : The flower of the European Orchid – Form and function, 2011, .

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q15502088 Orchids of Europe Orchids of Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus ovata