Neottia

a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the Orchidaceae family. The rhizome is thickly covered with curved fleshy roots, creating the impression of a bird’s nest. (The Russian word for the genus, gnezdovka, comes from the word for “bird’s nest.”) The stalks and the scalelike leaves are yellowish brown and lack chlorophyll (like saprophytes). The flowers are in a sparse cluster.

There are nine species of Neottia in the temperate zone of Eurasia; of these four are native to the USSR. The most common is the bird’s nest orchid (N. nidus-avis), which grows in the European part, in the Caucasus, and in Siberia in shady coniferous and mixed forests in decomposing forest humus.