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 our native 

 northern orchids. Bumblebees are 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 their 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 flowers sketched grew near Washington, District of Colum- 

 bia. 



PLATE 3x7 



