USDA Forest Service Celebrating Wildflowers

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Beauty of It All

The Ladies

Cypripedium acaule

Cypripedium arietinum

Cypripedium californicum

Cypripedium candidum

Cypripedium fasciculatum

Cypripedium guttatum

Cypripedium kentuckiense

Cypripedium montanum

Cypripedium parviflorum

Cypripedium passerinum

Cypripedium reginae

Meet The Ladies: The Slipper Orchids

Cypripedium kentuckiense: Kentucky lady's slipper

Kentucky lady's slipper occurs across the southern US from Virginia to Texas in widely separated populations.

the Kentucky lady's slipper.
Photo by Jason Singhurst, Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Map of the range of Cypripedium kentuckiense in North America.
Courtesy of Flora of North America.

Cypripedium kentuckiense is a large, showy orchid with stems up to about 28 in. in length. The stems have about 5 leaves and bear a single flower when mature. The pouch of the large flower is creamy to pale yellow with greenish purple-mottled petals.

Cypripedium kentuckiense in its habitat.
Photo by Thomas Philipps, Sabine National Forest, USDA Forest Service.

Cypripedium kentuckiense grows in southern hardwood forests on damp, low-lying areas near springs and in flood plains in acidic, sandy, and well-drained soils.

For More Information

U.S. Forest Service
Rangeland Management
Botany Program
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop Code: 1103
Washington DC 20250-1103

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Location: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/cypripedium/cypripedium_kentuckiense.shtml
Last modified: Tuesday, 24-Jun-2008 21:57:56 EDT