It is widespread across much of Europe, with the range extending eastward into Siberia, Mongolia and Xinjiang.

saccifera has one spur large and saccular (sac-shaped) and the bracts of the inflorescence as long as or longer than the flowers.

fuchsii is a Eurosiberian species occurring over Europe from Ireland in the west eastwards to Mongolia, the Altai Mountains and across northern Asia.

Typical habitats are, variously across the range, conifer, beech and chestnut forests, moderately wet meadows, bogs and margins of streams.

The full list of areas (World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions) for D. maculata subsp.

In Britain it is widespread, the most common orchid, occurring from alkaline marshes to chalk downland.

fuchsii forms mycorrhizal associations with fungi in the Tulasnellaceae and Ceratobasidium groups.

The subspecies name fuchsii honours the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.

This is due to the ease of introgression (the transfer of genetic material from one sympatric species to another, only partially isolated from the first, through interspecific hybridization and repeated backcrossing to a parental species), the ability of these plants to adapt quickly and easily to habitat and different substrates and possibly other causes.

The World Checklist of Kew Gardens lists over 25 varieties, of which 7 are recognized as valid.