C. Description 



1. General nontechnical description: "This species of lady's slipper has leafy stems 1 5-40 

 cm tall from a short rhizome. The elliptic leaves are 6-17 cm long, and sheath the stem. 

 The foliage is lightly pubescent and usually glandular. The 1-2 flowers are subtended by 

 an erect leafy bract, often longer than the inflorescence. The narrow sepals are up to 4 cm 

 long, and wavy-margined or slightly twisted. One petal is strongly pouch-shaped and 

 often purple-dotted. The other 2 petals are united into one that is similar to the sepals but 

 slightly longer. The fruit is an elliptic capsule bearing many thousands of tiny seeds" 

 (U.S. Forest Service 1995). Photographic slides of flowering plants are included in 

 Appendix C. 



2. Technical description: Plant terrestrial, sparsely pubescent, typically slender, up to 35 

 cm tall, from a short rhizome with fibrous roots. Leaves 3, occasionally 4 or 5, ovate- 

 lanceolate, plicate, bluish green, 5-15 X 2-8 cm in 2 ranks. Inflorescence with 1 or 2 

 small, showy flowers. Floral bract foliaceous, 3-8 X 1-3 cm. Ovary subsessile, 15X3 

 mm. Dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate, undulate, from reddish to purplish-brown, 2-4 X 1.5- 

 2.5 cm. Lateral sepals united often to the apex, similar to the dorsal sepal. Petals linear- 

 lanceolate, twisted, similar in color to the sepals, 3-5 cm X 5-8 mm. Lip an ovoid pouch, 

 clear deep yellow, the edges of the aperture rolled in, spotted inside with dark purple, 2- 

 2.5 X 1.2-2 cm. Staminode bluntly triangular, deep yellow with purple sots, 8X8 mm. 

 Capsule ellipsoid, (adapted from Luer 1975, for Cvpripedium calceolus var. parviflorum: 

 note: See discussion of species classification above; this technical description probably 

 does not apply to Montana plants.) 



3. Local field characters: As its taxonomy is treated here Cvpripedium calceolus var. 

 parviflorum is the only lady's slipper in Montana which has a yellow lip. When they are 

 learned, the genus Cvpripedium on the KNF can be recognized vegetatively or in fruit, 

 but plants may be difficult to determine to the species level. Cvpripedium montanum is 

 often more robust than C. calceolus var. parviflorum and usually has more flowers (or 

 fruits) and broader leaves. The foliage and stem of C passerinum is more densely silky, 

 glandular pubescent and the leaves are somewhat lighter colored. 



D. Geographical distribution 



1. Range of the species and variety: Depending on the taxonomic treatment (see above), 

 Cvpripedium calceolus is considered either a strictly Eurasian species (Sheviak 1992) or a 

 circumborial species with varieties ranging across North America (Correll 1950, Luer 

 1975). In North America, the species (in the broad taxonomic sense) occurs as far north 

 as the Yukon and Newfoundland and as far south as Arizona and Louisiana (Correll 1950, 

 Luer 1975). The taxonomy and distribution of varieties remains controversial. Many 

 authors (Cronquist et al. 1977, Hitchcock and Cronquist 1975, Welsh et al. 1987) 

 consider C calceolus var. parviflorum to include plants with a northwestern distribution 

 extending at least as far south as Utah, however, Luer (1975) maps its distribution only as 

 far west as Wisconsin, giving a Montana distribution only for the transcontinental C 

 calceolus var. pubescens . Dorn (1992) recognizes only Q* calceolus var. pubescens in 

 Wyoming. Charles Sheviak (pers. commun.) has tentatively recognized CL parviflorum 

 var. pubescens and CL parviflorum var. makasin in Montana, with the former having a 

 transcontinental range and the latter occurring in Michigan, the Pacific Northwest and 

 Western Canada. He contends C^ parviflorum var. parviflorum is endemic to the 

 southeastern United States. 



