The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

heart-leaf twayblade

Habit Plants 5–33 cm.
Stems

green to reddish purple, succulent, glabrous.

Leaves

blade broadly to narrowly ovate-cordate or deltate, 0.9–2(–4) × 0.7–2(–3.8) cm, apex mucronate.

Inflorescences

5–25-flowered, lax to dense, 20–100 mm, slender;

floral bracts ovate, 1–1.5 × 1 mm;

peduncle and rachis slightly glandular-puberulent or glabrate;

bracts, pedicel, and ovary glabrous.

Flowers

yellow-green, green, or reddish purple;

pedicel slender, 2–3 mm;

dorsal sepal ovate-oblong to oblong-elliptic, 2–3 × 1 mm, apex obtuse;

lateral sepals ovate-oblong to oblong-elliptic, slightly falcate, 2–3 × 0.5–1.5 mm, apex obtuse;

petals elliptic to oblong-linear, 1.5–2.5 × 0.5–1 mm, apex obtuse;

lip linear-oblong, cleft 1/2 –2/3 its length into 2 linear-lanceolate lobes, 3–4 × 1–1.5 mm;

disc with pair of spreading, linear lobes, apices acute;

column 0.5 × 0.5 mm.

Capsules

semierect, subglobose, 5 × 4 mm. 

Listera cordata

Distribution
from USDA
n North America; Europe; Asia (Japan); Iceland
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blades 0.7–2 cm wide; lip 3–4 mm; flowers yellow-green, green, or reddish purple.
var. cordata
1. Leaf blades 1.8–3.8 cm wide; lip 5–6 mm; flowers green to yellow-green.
var. nephrophylla
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 588.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Epidendroideae > tribe Neottieae > subtribe Limodorinae > Listera
Sibling taxa
L. auriculata, L. australis, L. borealis, L. caurina, L. convallarioides, L. ovata, L. smallii
Subordinate taxa
L. cordata var. cordata, L. cordata var. nephrophylla
Synonyms Ophrys cordata, Bifolium cordatum, Diphryllum cordatum, Distomaea cordata, Neottia cordata, Pollinirhiza cordata
Name authority (Linnaeus) R. Brown: in W. Aiton and W. T. Aiton, Hortus Kew. 5: 201. (1813)
Web links