[8][9] They are unspotted,[10][11] and oblong or oblong-ovate,[7] or lanceolate shaped, green,[8] shiny,[10] bright,[11] and smooth.

[7] In Central Europe, O. pallens is sometimes confused with yellow-flowering form of orchid, Dactylorhiza sambucina.

They can easily be distinguished from each other by several morphological features, including D. sambucina has leaves which are distributed along the stem.

[7] Orchis pallens can also be easily differentiated from Dactylorhiza sambucina, by the presence of bracts which protrude through the inflorescence.

The lateral outer petals are of a similar size, but asymmetric, blunt and strongly bent back.

In 1986, the European orchids Orchis mascula, O. pallens and their hybrids were analysed by enzyme electrophoresis on starch gels, this a form of species identification using differing parental alleles.

[9] It is found in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, France (France (mainland) and Corsica), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.

[28] 2 new localities of Orchis pallens in the Chełm mesoregion (Silesian Upland, southern Poland), were found in 2014 in the vicinity of Ligota Dolna and Oleszka villages in Opole Province.

In Moravia, it grows in more places such as (White Carpathians, Vsetin Hills, Beskydy, Chriby and others).

[9] The main threats to the newly found localities of Orchis pallens are succession processes in xerothermic The populations of the orchid and their habitats are declining, especially in central Europe due to various anthropogenic threats including: the stopping of the coppicing of woods, this causes a decrease in the amount of light reaching the forest floor.

[9] Other human threats include farming (on the grassland communities,[29] ) urbanisation and infrastructure expansion, tourism and deforestation and plant collection.

[1] Further habitat threats are posed by lack of rain, late frost, damage by wild animals such as badgers and wild boars, (Bournérias and Prat 2005, Delforge 1995, Giros 2009, Kretzschmar et al. 2007, Pignatti 1982, Rossi 2002).

[28] In southern Poland, active nature protection is employing measures such as mowing or shrub removal.