PINK LADYSLIPPER 
Cypripedium acaule Aiton 
Pink ladyslipper, often called moccasin-flower, is always a delight 
to the flower lover, for it seems like some exotic visitor. In fact it 
is not surpassed in beauty by many of the choicest orchids of the 
tropics. It adapts itself readily to cultivation in a wild garden if suit- 
able acid soil is provided, for it is one of the most acid-loving of 
all our native plants. It reappears year after year when once estab- 
lished. The term acaule, meaning “stemless,’ applies to the leaves and 
not to the flower, for the latter grows at the top of a slender stem 
springing up between two broad green leaves which often lie close 
against the soil. It is the largest flower produced by any of out native 
northern orchids. Bumblebees ate attracted to the nectar and enter 
the pouch, at the top of which it is secreted. Frequently, however, 
they find escape difficult, sometimes even biting theit way out to free- 
dom. Those which manage to emerge through the openings beside 
the anthers rub off some of the sticky pollen, and without knowing 
it, carry this to another flower and leave it on the stigma there, thus 
bringing about cross-pollination and the production of fertile seed. 
Pink ladyslipper is found from the mountains of Alabama north- 
ward to Newfoundland and westward to Manitoba. 
The flowets sketched grew neat Washington, District of Colum- 
bia. 
PLATE 327 
