Cypripedium californicum, the California lady's slipper, is a member of the orchid genus Cypripedium, the lady's slipper orchids, native to the western United States.
California lady's slipper | |
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1891 illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine" | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Cypripedioideae |
Genus: | Cypripedium |
Species: | C. californicum
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Binomial name | |
Cypripedium californicum A.Gray (1868)
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It often grows in very large clumps and each stem can bear up to 21 flowers. It can grow to be up to over a meter in height and has alternate, plicate leaves the length of the stem. The petals and sepals tend to be greenish-brown while the small pouch is pure white with occasional pink spots.[2]
it has a very restricted range and can only be found in the mountains of southwestern Oregon (including the Kalmiopsis Wilderness) and northern California.[3][4] It prefers the margins of woodland streams in open coniferous forests.