NAT. ORDER. 
OrchidecB. 
CYPRIPEDIUM HUMILE. LADIES' SLIPPER. 
Class XX. Gynandria. Order II. Diandria. 
Gen. Char. Lip, vertricose, inflated, saccate. Petals, four, the un- 
der one bifid. Column, terminating in a petaloid lobe. 
Spe. 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 roots are perennial, with many long, thick, fleshy, cylindri- 
cal and flexuose fibres, of a pale yellowish cast, diverging horizon- 
tally from the candex ; the stems are from one to five, springing from 
the same candex, simple, erect, often pubescent and angular, rising 
from twelve to eighteen inches high ; style and stamens concrete in 
the centre, above the germen, forming a central pillar, flattened 
above into an oblong deltoid lobe, supposed to be the stigma by some 
botanists, and bearing before two anthers, lodged in separate cells ; 
the fruit is an oblong capsule, with one cell, three valves, and a mul- 
titude of minute seeds, as in all the Orchideous tribe. 
Dr. Bigelow describes the present species as being different from 
the rest, in respect to its having no stem leaves. " The leaves are 
two, springing from the root, large, oval, lanceolate, plaited, downy ; 
the flowers are generally single, terminal and nodding : t\\e petals me 
four, spreading, the two lateral ones narrower, and somewhat 
twisted ; the nectary is a large flesh-colored, inflated bag, veined, 
villous, and longer than the petals ; the style, over the base of the 
Vol. iii. — 67. 
