[3] Due to its slender profile, small flowers and green colour this species can be hard to spot.

When an insect touches the sensitive tip of the rostellum, the viscid fluid is ejected and glues the pollinia to the visitor's body.

[5] Neottia ovata is one of the most common European orchid species, and this is partially explained by it being less species-selective both in terms of pollinators and mycorrhizal partners.

[6] The species epithet ovata comes from the Latin ovatus, meaning ovate or egg-shaped, and describing the leaves of the plant.

Common twayblade was formerly placed in the genus Listera, but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Neottia nidus-avis, the bird's-nest orchid, evolved within the same group,[3] and the two genera have been combined.