Cypripedium reginae Walter 1788 SECTION Cypripedium SUBSECTION Obtusipetala Photo by Jim Fowler and his P-Base Orchid North American Orchid Website
Back side Of Flowers Photo courtesy of Joseph Dougherty.

to
to EARLY
Common Name Showy Lady's Slipper or Queen Lady's Slipper
Flower Size to 4" [to 10 cm]
This large sized, cool to cold growing North American native is from N.E. and N. Central North America and is found on the margins of wet bogs as a terrestrial and is commonly called the "queen lady's slipper orchid" and has a stem carrying 7, ovate-lanceolate, suberect to spreading, plicate, subacute leaves with undulate margins that blooms in the spring through early fall on a slender, terminal inflorescence that has from 1 to rarely 4, color variable flowers subtended by a leafy bract.
Synonyms Calceolus hirsutus Nieuwl. 1913; Calceolus reginae Nieuwl. 1913; Cypripedium album Ait. 1789; Cypripedium canadense Michx. 1803; Cypripedium hirsutum [Farwell] Miller 1768; Cypripedium humile Salisb. 1791; Cypripedium reginae f. albolabium Fernald & B.G.Schub. 1948; Cypripedium reginae f. album (Aiton) House 1923; Cypripedium reginae var. album (Aiton) Rolfe 1911; Cypripedium spectabile Sw. 1791; Fissipes hirsuta Farwell 1917
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; ASO Bulletin Vol 26 No 7 1957 painting; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 10 1958 photo; AOS Bulletn Vol 31 No 6 1962 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 6 1963 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 No 5 1964 photo; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 4 1970 photo; Die Orchideen #4 13-16 tafel 5 Rudolph Schlechter 1971 photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 NO 3 1980; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 6 1980 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 6 1981 photo; Orchid Digest Vol 46 No 6 1982 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 1 1986 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 1 1987 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 9 1987; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 1/2 1993 photo; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 4 1993 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 4 1994 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 4 1995 Photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 No 2 1997 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 No 6 1997 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 4 1999 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 69 No 9 2000 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 3 2003 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 4 2004 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 5 2004 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 8 2004 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 10 2005 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 10 2006 photo; Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 1 2007 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 No 5 2009 photo;
Cypripedium reginae f. albolabium Fernald & B.G.Schub. 1948
A white color form of the previous species
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 2 2003 photo; Wild Orchids of the Prairies and Great Plains of North America P M Brown 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------