[Reprinted from JouRNAi of i )ik. Nkw Yokk Koianicai (Jakdin, May, I'lS-J 



WILD PLANTS NEEDIXG PROTECTION* 

 7. "Pink Moccasin Flower" {Cypripedium acaule Aiton) 



With Plate CXVI 



From the middle of May to the middle of June the "Stemless 

 Pink Moccasin" or "Two-leaved Lady's Slipper" may be found 

 blooming in moist woods and on the borders of swamps or on 

 drier hillsides in pine woods. It comes when the orchards are in 

 bloom, beginning with the violets, anemones and wake-robins 

 and in colder, more northern, hilly regions may still be found when 

 the laurel and the roses are just unfolding. 



It is probably the most common of all the Cypripediums, 

 having the greatest range, extending through British America 

 from Newfoundland to Winnipeg and North West Territory, 

 and is even supposed to have been one of the species recorded by 

 Dr. Richardson from Arctic America. It also occurs sparingly 

 in the United States from Minnesota to Kentucky and Tennessee. 



The flower is large and showy, pendent on a long stalk, about 

 a foot high, with two large basal leaves : they taper down to and 

 clasp the base of the flower stalk and are in turn enclosed in a 

 thin brown bract; there are five prominent parallel veins and 

 both surfaces of the leaf are pubescent with short glandular 

 hairs. Arching over the flower at the top of the scape is a single 

 lanceolate bract, about 2 inches long, covering the ovary 



* Illustrated by the aid of the Stokes Fund for the Preservation of Native 

 Plants. 



97 



