(Cypripedium acaule)
Conservation • Wetland • Description • Habitat • Biology • Use • Distribution • Taxonomy
Description |
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Pink lady’s slipper is a 5½″ to 19¾″ tall, erect, perennial forb. It rises on a pair of basal leaves and a single leafless flower stalk (scape) from a long rhizome and widely-spaced roots. The rhizome is horizontal, slender, fleshy, and sometimes branched. The roots are white, fleshy or cord-like, and up to 13¾″ long. In the first two or three years after germination the plant lives entirely underground as a shapeless mass of cells (protocorm). In the third or fourth spring a single pair of ascending to spreading leaves rise directly from the rhizome. Each blade is elliptic, 3½″ to 9″ long, 1″ to 4″ wide. It sheaths the flowering stem at the base, is broadly angled at the tip, and is plaited or folded, like a fan. The upper surface is green. The lower surface is silvery and shiny. Both surfaces are covered with short glandular hairs. The margins are untoothed. The inflorescence is a solitary flower at the end of an erect stalk (scape). The scape is hairy, leafless, and round in cross section. A single leaf-like appendage (bract) subtends the flower. The bract is stalkless, lance-shaped, green, hairy, ⅞″ to 1¾″ long, and ⅜″ to ½″ wide. The flower has three sepals and three petals. The sepals are covered with glandular hairs. The upper sepal is elliptic to lance-shaped elliptic, yellowish-green to brown or purple, 1″ to 1½″ long, and 3 ⁄16″ to ⅞″ wide. It is arched over the inflated lower lip petal. The bract subtending the flower arches over the upper sepal like a hood. The two lateral sepals are fused together into a single structure (synsepal) that is located directly below the lip petal. The synsepal is egg-shaped to lance-shaped, ⅝″ to 2″ long, ¼″ to 1″ wide, and is similar in appearance to the upper sepal. The two lateral petals are linear lance-shaped to lance-linear, 1⅛″ to 1¾″ long, ⅛″ to ⅝″ wide, and similar in appearance to the sepals. They are bent abruptly downward to somewhat spreading and are slightly spirally twisted. The lower petal (lip) is inflated to form a large, showy, slipper-like, 15 ⁄16″ to 2⅜″ long, 13 ⁄16″ to 19 ⁄16″ wide pouch. It is pink to magenta or purple, with dark branching veins. It is covered with glandular hairs. The upper (dorsal) surface has a deep longitudinal fissure the length of the lip. Unlike other orchids, the filaments and style are not fused into a column. There are 2 stamens and an enlarged, modified, sterile stamen (staminode). The staminode is purplish-green and inversely egg-shaped to almost four-angled. It curves over the base of the lip petal and below the upper sepal. There is one style with a lobed stigma. The fruit is a single, erect, ellipse-shaped, ribbed, ¾″ to 19 ⁄16″ long capsule. The persistent bract partially encloses the base of the capsule. |
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Height |
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5½″ to 19¾″ |
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Flower Color |
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Pink with red veins |
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Similar Species |
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Habitat |
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Dry to wet. Woods, swamps. Acidic soil. |
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Biology |
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Flowering |
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May 24 to July 10 |
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Use |
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Distribution |
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Sources |
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10/11/2013 | ||||
Nativity |
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Native |
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Occurrence |
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Uncommon |
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Taxonomy |
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Kingdom | Plantae (green algae and land plants) | ||
Subkingdom | Viridiplantae (green plants) | ||
Infrakingdom | Streptophyta (land plants and green algae) | ||
Superdivision | Embryophyta (land plants) | ||
Division | Tracheophyta (vascular plants) | ||
Subdivision | Spermatophytina (seed plants) | ||
Class | Liliopsida (monocots) | ||
Order |
Asparagales (agaves, orchids, irises, and allies) | ||
Family |
Orchidaceae (orchids) | ||
Subfamily | Cypripedioideae (slipper orchids) | ||
Genus |
Cypripedium (hardy slipper orchids) | ||
Subgenus | Cypripedium | ||
Section | Acaulia | ||
Synonyms |
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Fissipes acaulis |
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Common Names |
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lady’s-slipper orchid moccasin flower pink lady’s slipper pink lady’s-slipper pink lady’s-slipper orchid pink ladyslipper pink moccasin flower pink moccasin-flower small pink lady’s-slipper stemless lady’s slipper stemless lady’s-slipper |
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Glossary
Bract
Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.
Column
The united filaments and style of an orchid. The structure formed by the united filaments of plants in the Mallow family.
Protocorm
A tuber-like mass of cells on the seed of an orchid that precedes the production of above-ground parts.
Rhizome
A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.
Scape
An erect, leafless stalk growing from the rootstock and supporting a flower or a flower cluster.
Sepal
An outer floral leaf, usually green but sometimes colored, at the base of a flower.
Staminode
A modified stamen that produces no pollen. It often has no anther.
Synsepal
A floral structure formed by the partial or complete fusion of two or more sepals.
Visitor Photos |
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Tim Blumentritt |
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I came across the link lady slipper for the first time in my life! |
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Bill Reynolds |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Plant |
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Slideshows |
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Cypripedium acaule Zi W |
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Pink Lady's Slipper Andree Reno Sanborn |
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About
Cypripedium acaule |
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Cypripedium acaule (Pink Ladyslipper) Allen Chartier |
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Cypripedium acaule Joshua Mayer |
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About
Pink Lady Slipper |
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eaTalk - Pink Lady Slipper Orchid DESeaGrant |
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About
Uploaded on May 13, 2011 One of the first signs of spring in the region's coastal woodlands is the emergence of the Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid from beneath the blanket of pine needles that cover the maritime forest floor. |
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Pink Lady Slippers BentBrent69 |
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About
Uploaded on Jul 30, 2011 Pink Lady Slippers growing wild and free. |
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Other Videos |
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MyNature Apps; Identifying Pink Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium acaule MyNatureApps |
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About
Uploaded on May 31, 2011 How to identify Pink Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium acaule also known as Stemless Lady's-slipper, or Moccasin Flower. www.mynatureapps.com |
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Cypripedium acaule - Laddy Slipper Orchid MrSkillwater |
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About
Uploaded on May 31, 2010 No description available. |
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Dance Of The Lady Slippers.m4v Douglas Foulke |
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About
Published on Jun 5, 2012 A time lapse look at Lady Slipper Orchids, (Cypripedium acaule), growing in Brookfield, CT. |
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Visitor Sightings |
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Tim Blumentritt 6/6/2021 |
Location: Wisconsin I came across the link lady slipper for the first time in my life! |
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Bill Reynolds 6/18/2004 |
Location: St. Louis Co. |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
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