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 guttatum: Spotted lady's slipper

A circumpolar species, in North America the spotted lady's slipper occurs in Alaska and northern Canada.

the spotted lady's slipper.
Photo by Mary Stensvold, Chugach National Forest.

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

Cypripedium guttatum has two clasping leaves and a stem that bears a single flower. The distinctive flower is purplebrown and white. The labellum is pitcher shaped with an out-turned mouth and is magenta-purple with white splotches as are the lateral petals. The dorsal sepal that tilts over the lip is white with a purple border and veined with magenta on its underside.

Cypripedium guttatum in its habitat.
Courtesy of Spangle Creek Labs, Bovey, Minnesota.

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_guttatum.shtml
Last modified: Tuesday, 24-Jun-2008 21:57:55 EDT