Distribution
Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Europe eastwards to the Caucasus and western Siberia and southwards to northwest Africa. In Europe, the species is found in Scandinavia and Finland and south to the Mediterranean including Italy, Greece, Corsica, Sicily and Sardinia and the Balearic Islands, and eastwards to Crimea and the Caucasus; it is mainly restricted to the mountains in the south of the range and absent from the Mediterranean lowland. The species can be found from 100 m up to 2,000 m altitude (Bournérias and Prat 2005, Delforge 1995, GIROS 2009, Harrap and Harrap 2009, Lang 2004, Pignatti 1982, Rossi 2002, The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2010, Vakhrameeva et al. 2008).

This chlorophyll-less orchid is in symbiosis with Rhizoctonia fungus which enables it to obtain nutrition (Gardes 2002). The fungus/orchid combination is effectively a perennial saprophyte feeding on decomposing leaf litter, or possibly the mycorrhiza may be shared with nearby tree species. The plants do not appear every year. It grows in woodlands, often on basic soil, under shade in deep leaf litter in beech, hazel and pine forests. The species prefers chalk and limestone soils and also grows in clays and sands that have a chalky or limestone component. Shady deciduous and mixed forests, rarely pine forests, mainly in plots with scattered grassy coverage, tolerates heavy shade. Flowers from May to July (Bournérias and Prat 2005, Delforge 1995, GIROS 2009, Harrap and Harrap 2009, Lang 2004, Pignatti 1982, Rossi 2002, Vakhrameeva et al. 2008, Tymchenko et al. 2009).

Near Threatened in Norway (Artsdatabanken 2010) and the United Kingdom (Cheffings and Farrell 2005).
Least Concern in Czech Republic (Rare - Holub and Procházka 2000), Denmark (NERI 2007), France (UICN France et al. 2010), Germany (Ludwig and Schnittler 1996), Hungary (protected but not rare - Király 2007), Luxembourg (Colling 2005) and Switzerland (Moser et al. 2002).
Not Evaluated in Ukraine (Red Book of Ukraine 2009)

(Rankou et al. 2014)
GBIF.org (5th February 2018) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.jyzo16

Rhizome 1.5-4.2 cm, horizontal. Stem 10-52 cm, solid, with 0.1-0.3 mm hairs, glanduliferous, patents. Leaves 3-6 reduced to scales, sheathing, obtuse, glabrous; sometimes prolonged superiors in a non-inking area, laminar, acute, up to 5 cm long. Inflorescence 7-22 cm, with 15-70 pedicelled flowers, the lower ones very spaced; bract of the basal flower 8,8-23 × 2-3 mm, generally longer than the adjacent flower, lanceolate, acute, glabrous. Sepals 6-7 × 2-2.5 mm, broadly lanceolate, obtuse, somewhat cucullate, with some glanduliferous hairs at the base of the outer face, of a light chestnut. Lateral petals 5-5.5 × 2 mm, ± spatulate, obtuse, glabrous, of a light chestnut; lip 9-11 × 5 mm, longer than the sepals, with a nectary area slightly excavated in the proximal part, with some hairs glanduliferous at the base of the outer face, of a light chestnut. Ginostemo 1-1,5 mm, ± cylindrical, erect, glabrous. Antera 1-1,5 mm, ovoid, obtuse. Ovary 7-8 mm long, with glanduliferous hairs. Fruit 10-11 × 5-6 mm, with 6 ribs. Seeds 0.6-0.8 × 0.1 mm. Chromosome number: 2n = 36 *; n = 18 * (Aedo 2005).
Translation from Spanish by Nikolai Yunakov