Cypripedium californicum A. Gray 1867 SECTION Irapeana Photo courtesy of Patricia Harding
Plant in situ Photo courtesy of Noble Bashor
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Common Name California Lady's Slipper
Flower Size 1 1/2" [3.75 cm]
A giant sized, cool to cold growing, terrestrial orchid occuring in SW Oregon and N California with pubescent, elliptic-lanceolate, alternate, plicate leaves that sheath the stem that blooms from spring through early summer depending on altitude on a terminal, long, slender stalked, 3 to many [12] flowered inflorescence arising from the center of the almost mature leaves that has flowers arising from the well spaced leaflike bracts and is a cold to cool growing orchid associated with pine forests near mountain streams.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Orchid Digest Vol 46 No 5 1982 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 3 1995 photo; Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 3 2007 photo;
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