Ovate Listera

Family: orchids. Ovate Listera occurs in the Caucasus, Siberia, the mountains of Central Asia, Western Europe, and Asia Minor. It grows in coniferous, broad-leaved, small-leaved, and mixed forests, under a dense canopy and at forest edges; it is common on calcareous soils but also occurs on acidic soils, both on plains and in mountains (up to 2000 m), in dry and moist habitats.

The plant has a short, thickened rhizome with numerous roots. The stem is 25-60 cm tall, with 2 closely set, almost opposite leaves. The lower leaf is glabrous and thicker, with a brownish sheath; the upper leaf is shortly glandular-hairy, and there are 1-3 small leaves higher on the stem. The inflorescence is a raceme of small yellow-greenish flowers (up to 40 or more), with acute bracts, on long (up to 6 mm) glandular-hairy pedicels. The segments of the outer and inner perianth whorls are almost equal in length (up to 4.5 mm). The labellum is 2-3 times longer, obovate, almost to the middle divided into 2 lobes. Flowers in June-July.

Reproduction is by seeds, but more often vegetatively (by root offshoots). The above-ground shoot appears in the 4th year after seed germination and the plant flowers in the 11th–15th year. The nectar of Listera flowers attracts insect pollinators (small bees, butterflies, parasitic wasps and sawflies). Individual flowering usually lasts a long time, more than a month. Fruit set percentage is fairly high — 37-66%. In mature plants the roots are almost completely free of fungi. Resistant to anthropogenic impacts. May be found in disturbed habitats, along roadsides and railways.

Easy to cultivate. Grown in shaded places on loamy or peaty soils with the addition of limestone. Despite slow development in the first years of life, the species is well adaptable. This is one of the few orchids that, upon reaching adult age, does not depend on the presence of symbiotic fungi in its tissues.