Cypripedium acaule Aiton 1789 SECTION Cypripedium SUBSECTION Acaulia Photos by © Dave Janas
Light Color Form Photos by Joseph Dougherty
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EARLY
Common Name Moccasin Flower - The Short Inflorescence Cypripedium
Flower Size 2" [5 cm]
Found in the Eastern USA and Canada and south to Georgia and Alabama in hardwood and conifer forests, in swamps and bogs, dense woods along streams and in coastal dunes as a large sized, cool to cold growing, erect, terrestrial plant from the higher and drier deciduous forests with 2, plicate, opposite, basal, elliptic, obtuse leaves that blooms in the spring and early summer on a terminal, slender, to 15" [45 cm] long, raceme with a solitary, nodding, showy flower arising with the new leaves in the spring in the south through summer in the north.
Native Americans have historically used an extract from this species as a sedative and treatment for nervous disorders.
Synonyms Cypripedium acaule f. albiflora E.L.Rand & Redfield 1894; Cypripedium acaule f. biflorum P.M.Br. 1995; Cypripedium acaule f. lancifolia House 1924; Cypripedium humile Salisb. 1791; Fissipes acualis (Aiton) Small 1789; Fissipes acaulis f. lancifolia House 1920; Fissipes hirsuta f. albiflora (E.L.Rand & Redfield) Farw. 1938
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bullletin Vol 32 No 6 1963; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 3 1970 drawing; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 11 1970 photo; Die Orchideen #4 13-16 tafel 5 Rudolph Schlechter 1971 photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 11 1979 photo as C acaule var album; Orchid Digest Vol 46 No 6 1982 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 12 1983 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 53 No 5 1984 drawing; Orchid Digest Vol 49 No 2 1985 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 6 1985 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 5 1985 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 7 1986 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 5 1987 PHOTO; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 5/445 1992 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 4 1993 photo; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 4 1993; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 3 1994 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 4 1994 photo as C acaule var alba; AOS Bulletin Vol 69 No 9 2000 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 70 No 2 2001 photo; AOS Buletin Vol 71 No 5 2002 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 9 2003 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 2 2006 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 5 2006 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 11 2006 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 No 5 2009 photo;
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