136 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
the base; rarely the leaves are radical. Flowers terminal and soli- 
tary or 2 or 3 in a spike, very large, and brightly coloured. 
The name of this genus is derived from the Greek words Kizpic, Venus, and xéédor, 
a shoe or slipper, in allusion to the shape of the flowers of the species. 
SPECIES I-CYPRIPEDIUM CALCEOLUS. Linn. 
Pirate MCCCCXC. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. XTIT. Tab. CCCCXCVI. 
Billot, ¥\. Gall. et Germ. Exsice. No. 2376. 
Stem leafy. Upper sepal lanceolate ; lateral sepals and petals strap- 
shaped; all of them maroon; labellum slightly compressed, shorter 
than the sepals and petals, pale yellow. Terminal lobe of the column 
nearly ovate, deflexed. 
In woods on limestone. Very rare, and now nearly if not quite 
extinct. It formerly occurred in several stations in Yorkshire: it 
was found in Ouldray Gill, near Helmsley, by Mr. J. H. Phillips, as 
lately as 1849; it also used to occur in Helsotine Gill, about nine 
miles from Settle, and between Hawnby and Rievaulx; it was once 
plentiful in Castle Eden Dene, and was noticed there as lately as 1%40. 
It is said to have been found in North Furness, Lancashire. 
England. Perennial. Early Summer. 
Rootstock creeping. Stem erect, 9 to 18 inches high, with leafless 
sheaths at the base, and several oval sheathing acute or acuminate 
leaves. Flowers 1, rarely 2. Sepals and petals 1} to 14 inch long, 
dark maroon; labellum pale yellow, 1 to 1} inch long, by % to 4 
inch deep. Stem, veins of the leaves, pedicels, and ovary slightly 
puberulent. 
Of this I have no British specimens, except a cultivated one brought 
from Castle Eden Dene by the late Rev. William Little. 
Common Lady's Slipper. 
French, Sabot de la Vierge. German, Frauenschuh. 
Robert Brown described raphides in this order; and it is remarkable that no 
notice is given of these curious crystals in other plants by that illustrious botanist, 
judging from the collected edition of his works by the Ray Society. Mr. Gulliver 
has never failed to find raphides in our Orchidaces. Brown describes the raphides 
as smooth or rounded in their shafts; and this agrees with the subsequent observa- 
tions of them in various orders of plants by Gulliver, who says that ‘“ the shaft of 
the raphis gradually vanishes or tapers to a point at both ends, and commonly 
presents no faces or angles.’”’ The numerous descriptions we have had of the 
prismatic form—distinct faces and angles—of raphides have arisen simply from con- 
founding crystal prisms with raphides, But endless confusion will continue, unless 
