NAT. ORDER. 
OrchidecR. 
CYPRIPEDIUM ALBUM. WHITE LADY'S SLIPPER 
Class XX. Gynandria. Order II. Diandria. 
Gen. Char. Lip, ventricose, inflated, saccate. Petals, four, the 
under one bifid. Column, terminating in a petaloid lobe. 
8pe. Char. Stem, leafy. Lobe of the style, triangular-oblong, ob- 
tuse, exterior. Petals, ovate-oblong, acuminate ; interior 
very long, linear, contorted. Lip, shorter than the petals, 
compressed. 
The root is perennial, with many long, round, crooked fibres, 
growing in a mat, which is pale, or of a dark yellowish cast, and 
running horizontally from the candex ; the stems are from one to 
five, growing from the same root, rising one or two feet, bearing 
from three to seven leaves, and from one to three of its beautiful 
flowers ; the leaves are alternate, sheathing the stem, and with 
many parallel nerves, which give them an uneven appearance. 
This species of Cypripedium is found all over the United 
States ; very rare in some places ; inhabiting all kinds of soil, but 
most common in wet lands, or swamps. 
Of the genus Cypripedium, Great Britain produces only one , 
but America, (the garden of medical plants,) twelve or fourteen, 
to our knowledge. Of these, the album here figured, (whose 
name is derived from the whiteness of its petals, and with which 
the nectary must not be confounded,) is by far the most magnifi- 
cent ; indeed, there are few flowers, which to such singularity of 
structure add such elegance and beauty. It grows spontaneously, 
Vo!. ii _ioi 
