Large Yellow Lady’s Slipper; Whippoorwill’s Shoe; Yellow Moccasin
Flower
_Cypripedium pubescens (C. hirsutum)_
_Flower_--Solitary, large, showy, borne at the top of a leafy stem 1 to
2 ft. high. Sepals 3, 2 of them united, greenish or yellowish, striped
with purple or dull red, very long, narrow; 2 petals, brown, narrower,
twisting; the third an inflated sac, open at the top, 1 to 2 in. long,
pale yellow, purple lined; white hairs within; sterile stamen
triangular; stigma thick. _Leaves:_ Oval or elliptic, pointed, 3 to 5
in. long, parallel-nerved, sheathing.
_Preferred Habitat_--Moist or boggy woods and thickets; hilly ground.
_Flowering Season_--May-July.
_Distribution_--Nova Scotia to Alabama, westward to Minnesota and
Nebraska.
Swinging outward from a leaf-clasped stem, this orchid attracts us by
its flaunted beauty and decorative form from tip to root, not less than
the aesthetic little bees for which its adornment and mechanism are so
marvellously adapted. Doubtless the heavy, oily odor is an additional
attraction to them.
These common orchids, which are not at all difficult to naturalize in a
well-drained, shady spot in the garden, should be lifted with a good
ball of earth and plenty of leaf-mould immediately after flowering.
The similar Small Yellow Lady’s Slipper _(C. parviflorum)_, a delicately
fragrant orchid about half the size of its big sister, has a brighter
yellow pouch, and occasionally its sepals and petals are purplish. As
they usually grow in the same localities, and have the same blooming
season, opportunities for comparison are not lacking. This fairer,
sweeter, little orchid roams westward as far as the State of Washington.