Cypripedium calceolus
Cypripedium calceolus (Orchidaceae) 157 24
Cypripedium calceolus (the lady's slipper orchid) is one of the best known and most widely illustrated of all flowering plants.
It is widely distributed, ranging from Spain, the British Isles and Scandinavia in western Europe across to north-eastern China, eastern Siberia and Sakhalin Island. It may also occur on Honshu in Japan. In Europe it is found from sea level in the north up to over 2000 m above sea level in the Alps. It favors limestone and is found in deciduous, mixed deciduous and coniferous woods, growing in light to deep shade.
The lady's slipper orchid is a long-lived herbaceous perennial which produces new growths from a rhizome (swollen underground stem) each season. It grows up to 60 cm tall, and the stems have a covering of glandular hairs. Each stem has three to four leaves, which are strongly pleated and often have up-curved sides. The inflorescence (flower stalk) is one- to two-flowered with leaf-like bracts. The flowers are showy. The sepals and petals are maroon (rarely green) and often spirally twisted. Cypripedium calceolus is quite variable in the wild. Plants may bear up to three flowers on a spike. Flowers can have green or yellow, rather than maroon, sepals and petals and a white, rather than a yellow, lip.
Cypripedium calceolus
Cypripedium calceolus (Orchidaceae) 157 24
Cypripedium calceolus (the lady's slipper orchid) is one of the best known and most widely illustrated of all flowering plants.
It is widely distributed, ranging from Spain, the British Isles and Scandinavia in western Europe across to north-eastern China, eastern Siberia and Sakhalin Island. It may also occur on Honshu in Japan. In Europe it is found from sea level in the north up to over 2000 m above sea level in the Alps. It favors limestone and is found in deciduous, mixed deciduous and coniferous woods, growing in light to deep shade.
The lady's slipper orchid is a long-lived herbaceous perennial which produces new growths from a rhizome (swollen underground stem) each season. It grows up to 60 cm tall, and the stems have a covering of glandular hairs. Each stem has three to four leaves, which are strongly pleated and often have up-curved sides. The inflorescence (flower stalk) is one- to two-flowered with leaf-like bracts. The flowers are showy. The sepals and petals are maroon (rarely green) and often spirally twisted. Cypripedium calceolus is quite variable in the wild. Plants may bear up to three flowers on a spike. Flowers can have green or yellow, rather than maroon, sepals and petals and a white, rather than a yellow, lip.