Lesser butterfly-orchid

Platanthera bifolia

In other languages: Welriekende nachtorchis (Nederlands) · Platanthère à deux feuilles (Français)

Grows wild in Belgium.

The lesser butterfly-orchid is a native orchid with a spike of white, strongly scented flowers and, at its base, usually two large, glossy leaves. It grows in poor, unfertilised hay meadows, on heathland, in damp to dry grassland and in open broadleaved woodland, on both acid and chalky soils. In Belgium it has declined sharply: in Flanders it has become very rare, while in Wallonia it can still be found locally in thin grassland and along woodland edges. You can recognise it by its long, narrow, undivided lip, its long, slender spur and the two pollen masses that stand close together and parallel in the centre of the flower. Its scent is strongest in the evening and at night, attracting moths that can reach the nectar in the spur with their long tongues. Like all wild orchids it is protected: do not pick it and never dig it up.

Caution: The lesser butterfly-orchid, like all wild orchids in Belgium, is protected. Do not pick it, never dig it up and do not take tubers or seed from the wild. Only buy plants that have demonstrably been propagated in a nursery.

Updated on 9 October 2026

Light
Sun or partial shade
preferably some sun
Moisture
Normal
no wet feet
Hardiness
Fully hardy
down to -30 °C
Size
0.35 m
tall, 0.15 m wide
Flowering
May–July

Key facts
Pruning months	August–September
Height	0.35 m
Native to Belgium	Yes
Flowering	May–July

Identify

How to recognise it

Growth habit: Perennial orchid, 20–40 cm tall, with two undivided, spindle-shaped tubers in the soil.
Leaf: Usually two large, elliptical, glossy green leaves close to the ground, almost opposite each other. Higher up the stem, a few small, scale-like leaves.
Flower: Loose spike of 5–25 white, sometimes greenish-white flowers with a long, narrow lip of about 1 cm and a slender spur of 1.5–3 cm. Sweet, strong scent, especially in the evening. Flowers from May to July.
Fruit/Seed: Capsules holding thousands of dust-fine seeds, carried by the wind, which only germinate with the help of a soil fungus.
Stem: Upright, hairless and slightly angled, with a few small bracts.
Confusion with: The greater butterfly-orchid is more robust, with greenish-white flowers and a weaker scent, and its two pollen masses are far apart at the base and lean towards each other. In the lesser butterfly-orchid they stand close together and parallel.

Flowering: May–July · Pruning: August–September

In your garden

Why grow it?

A beautiful, strongly scented orchid that releases its fragrance in the evening and at night, attracting moths such as hawkmoths and noctuids.
The nectar lies deep in the long spur and can only be reached by insects with a long tongue: a fine example of the partnership between flower and pollinator.
An indicator of valuable, unfertilised and well-managed grassland and heath: where it grows, the flora is often rich.
Anyone managing a thin hay meadow or heath can help this species by mowing late, removing the cuttings and never fertilising.
In the garden it is mainly something for the enthusiast with a suitable, poor spot, and only with plants propagated in a nursery.

Lesser butterfly-orchid: where does it grow best?

In the wild in thin hay meadows, purple moor-grass meadows, wet and dry heath, chalk grassland, and in open broadleaved woodland and woodland edges.
Sun to light half shade.
Nutrient-poor, undisturbed soil, acid to chalky and moist to fairly dry, but never fertilised.
In the garden it only stands a chance in a thin meadow that has not been fertilised for years, or in a light woodland edge where the soil is not dug.

Goes well with

Tormentil: Small yellow flowers in the same thin, slightly acid grassland and heath.
Devil’s-bit scabious: Flowers in late summer and extends the season in the same thin meadow.
Betony: Purple spikes in summer, loved by bumblebees.
Common milkwort: Small blue flowers on the same poor soil.
Heath spotted-orchid: Another orchid of thin, damp grassland, likewise only from a nursery.

Maintenance

Lesser butterfly-orchid: when and how to plant it?

Only buy plants propagated in a specialist nursery, never plants taken from the wild. Ask how they were raised.
Plant in September–October, while the plant is dormant, in a poor, undisturbed spot in sun or light half shade.
Set the tuber a few centimetres deep in the existing soil, without compost or fertiliser, and firm gently.
Keep the soil slightly moist in the first year, but never wet, and mark the spot so that you do not hoe or mow it by accident.
Do not expect miracles: orchids need a soil fungus and often disappear from gardens after a few years. Managing a thin meadow well gives better chances in the long run.
Never dig up orchids from the wild or take tubers or seed: all wild orchids are protected in Belgium, and transplanted wild plants nearly always die.

Care

Watering: Only during long dry spells in spring. Avoid wet feet in winter.
Feeding: Never. Fertiliser and compost are fatal for orchids and their soil fungus, and make the grasses too vigorous.
Mowing: Only mow the meadow from mid-August, once the seed capsules have opened, and remove the cuttings. No mowing from April to the end of July.
Soil: Do not dig the soil around the plant and do not hoe. Pull out competing plants carefully by hand.
Dormancy: After setting seed the plant disappears above ground. Mark the spot with a stick so that you do not damage it.

Tip: Do you have a thin meadow where orchids already grow? Only mow from mid-August and remove the cuttings: that way they can seed themselves, and you help them more than by adding new plants.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: August–September.

When: From mid-August or in September, after seed set, together with the meadow.

How:

Only mow once the seed capsules are brown and open, so that the dust-like seed can blow away.
Remove the cuttings so that the soil stays poor.
Never cut flowering stems for a vase: the plant needs its leaves and flowers to build up next year’s tuber.

Caution: Do not mow between April and the end of July: you would cut off leaves and flowers, and the new tuber could not develop properly.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed: In the wild by dust-fine seed, which only germinates with a suitable soil fungus. It takes years before a seedling flowers. In the garden, sowing rarely succeeds; nurseries propagate orchids in the laboratory.
Tubers: Each year the plant forms a new tuber for the following season, while the old one dies. A plant therefore rarely splits into two.

Lesser butterfly-orchid: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

In winter there is nothing to see above ground: the plant survives as a tuber in the soil.
Fully hardy, to about −30 °C.
Wet, compacted soil in winter can make the tuber rot.

Diseases and pests

Fertiliser or compost: Disrupts the soil fungus and makes the grasses too vigorous. Never fertilise, not even nearby.
Mowing too early: Mowing before the end of July weakens the plant and prevents seed set. Only mow from mid-August.
Slugs: Slugs love young leaves and flower buds. Pick them off by hand in the evening or lay a ring of coarse sand around the plant.
Disappearing: In gardens orchids often disappear after a few years. Give them poor, undisturbed soil and time; sometimes a plant returns after a year of rest.

Through the year

April: The two leaves appear. Do not mow, watch out for slugs.
May: The flower stem grows. First flowers at the end of May.
June: Full flower. Come and smell it in the evening and look out for moths.
July: End of flowering. Seed capsules ripen. Do not mow.
August: From mid-August, mow and remove the cuttings.
September: Mow if not yet done. Plant nursery-grown tubers.
October: Plant. Mark the spot.
December: Rest below ground.

You and this species

Did you know?

In his book on the pollination of orchids (1862), Charles Darwin described how the pollen masses of butterfly-orchids stick to the head or tongue of moths.
Platanthera means ‘broad anther’, from the Greek platys, ‘broad’; bifolia means ‘two-leaved’.
Orchid seed is as fine as dust and contains almost no food reserves: it can only germinate if a soil fungus feeds it.

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