Lady's Slipper

Ladys Slipper (Cypripedium) - Handsome Orchids, embracing several hardy species, of which the Mocassin-flower (C. spectabile) is the finest cultivated hardy kind.

Cypripedium acaule Ait. - moccasin flower

Cypripedium candidum Muhl. - white lady's slipper

Cypripedium parviflorum Salisb. - lesser yellow lady's slipper

Cypripedium reginae Walt. - showy lady's slipper

Cypripedium reginae Walt. - showy lady's slipper

Cypripedium acaule Ait. - moccasin flower

Stemless Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium Acaule) - A dwarf species with a naked downy flower-stalk, 8 to 12 inches high, bearing a green bract at the top, flowers early in summer, large, solitary, purplish with a rosy-purple (rarely white) lip, nearly 2 inches long, which has a singular closed fissure down its whole length in front. N.America in woods and bogs. Thriving in moist, peaty, or sandy soil.

English Ladys Slipper (Cypripedium Calceolus) - The only British species and the largest flowered of our native Orchids, 1 to 1 1/2 feet high, flowers in summer, solitary (sometimes two) large flowers of a dark brown color, with an inflated clear yellow lip netted with darker veins, and about 1 inch in length. N. Europe, and occasionally in the northern countries of England, where, however, it is now almost exterminated. Very ornamental for the rock garden, where it should be planted in sunny sheltered nooks of calcareous soil, or in narrow fissures of limestone rock, in well-drained, rich, fibrous loam, in an east aspect.

Spotted Ladys Slipper (Cypripedium Guttatum) - A beautiful kind, 6 to 9 inches high; flowers in summer solitary, rather small, white, heavily blotched, with rosy purple. Grows in dense forests amongst the roots of trees in black vegetable mould. Requires a half-shady position in leaf-mould, moss, and sand, and not wet in winter, N. Europe and Asia.

Japanese Ladys Slipper (Cypripedium Japonicum) - About 1 foot high, and its hairy stems, which are as thick as ones little finger, bear two plicate fan-shaped leaves of bright green, rather jagged round the margins. The flowers are solitary, the sepals being of an apple-green tint; the petals, too, are of the same color, but are dotted with purplish crimson at the base.

Large Ladys Slipper (Cypripedium Macranthum) - A choice species, the flowers, large, of a uniform purplish rose with deeper colored veins; early in June. Lip globose, inflated, and finely marked with deep purple reticulations. Grows best in pure loam of a heavy nature. Siberia.

Cypripedium Pubescens - A dwarf species with a pubescent stem, seldom more than 2 feet high, flowers early in summer, on each stem one to three flowers; scentless, greenish yellow, spotted with brown, with a pale yellow lip from 1 1/2 to 2 inches long and flattened at the sides. America, found in bogs and low woods, from Pennsylvania to Carolina. An accommodating species, and does well in leaf-soil, loam, stones, and grit.

Mocassin-flower (Cypripedium Spectabile) - The most beautiful of this group; 15 inches to 2 1/2 feet high, flowers in summer, one or two on each stem (rarely three), large, with inflated, rounded lip, about 1 1/2 inches long, white, with a large blotch of bright rosy carmine in front. A variety (C.s. album) has the lip entirely white. In America it grows in open boggy woods, moist meadows, and also in peaty bogs in the Northern States. Good native specimen produce from fifty to seventy flowers on a single tuft, 3 feet across, formed on a thick mat of fleshy roots. The plant is hardy, and succeeds if planted out in a deep, rich, peaty soil, with loam and leaf-mould added. Woodland shade and moisture are very desirable, with a few nodules of sandstone or rough sandstone grit mixed with the soil. It also thrives in turfy loam on a moist bottom; in any case, deep planting is necessary.

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