THE PLANT WOELD 203 



science for the shoe-shaped species known from Dodoens' time, in 1616, 

 down to the present period. The yellow lady's slipper of Europe, 

 known to-day as Gypripedium Galceolus Linnaeus, is identical with Dod- 

 oens' and Bauhin's yellow species of 1600. 



Linnaeus in 1740 reviewed this group of plants and included the 

 species under the genus Gypripedium ; thus originating the common 

 name Yenus-slippers or Our Lady's slippers as formerly. He re-estab- 

 lished the custom before Christ of dedicating flowers to Gypris or Venus 

 of classical mythology, the "Divine Mother" of the Roman people. 

 Being a devout Lutheran, he dropped the prevailing name of 1700, 

 Marianus, the Virgin Mary, the " Divine Mother " of all people and 

 nations in sacred history. Gypripediu'm is derived from "Kypris " or 

 " Gypris" a former name of Venus before the Trojan origin of Rome ; 

 and "podium'' or " ped'ium'" signifies a sock, buskin or slipper. 



Venus as well as Marianus was known as "Divine Mother" and 

 commonly called "Our Lady." Thus Galceolus Marianus Dodoens, 

 and Gyprijjedium Galceolus Linnaeus, mean virtually the same when it 

 comes to the origin of the common name, Our Lady's slipper. Lin- 

 naeus combines with his name the ancient generic name Galceolus, and 

 thus the first species of lady's slipper designated as a Gypripedium 

 became Gypripedium Galceolus in 1740, which signifies Venus-slippers, 

 round and " shoe-shaped." It will be seen that he combines a good 

 deal of " slipper " and " shoe " in this yellow species of Gypripedium. 



The Algonquin Indians of northeastern North America saw the 

 same resemblance in this pouch-shaped flower to a "little shoe," and 

 called it Indian's mawcahsin or makkasin-flower, originating the com- 

 mon name moccasin-flower, so appropriate to our native species of 

 Gypripedium. 



Three or four of our thirteen native species were known to early 

 European botanists in 1600-1700. The first record of an American 

 lady's slipper is mentioned in 1635, and was our showy white-petaled 

 species now known as Gyprijyedimn reginae Walter. lac Carnotii explored 

 our Canadian provinces apparently about the time Samuel Champlain 

 explored Lake Champlain, in 1635 or thereabout. He collected this 

 beautiful orchid and published it with an excellent wood-cut in his work 

 Plantarum Canadensium (1635J under the title of Galceolus Marianus 

 Ganadensis, Our Lady's slipper of Canada. 



This Cypripedium was therefore collected ten years after the land- 

 ing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth. 



Linnaeus in the first edition of his Species Plantarum, 1753, 

 mentions four American species of this genus as varietal forms 

 of his shoe-shaped species, Cypripedium Galceolus. Any history, 

 therefore, relating to that European species also pertains to all other 



