10 Cypripedium pubescens.
Whole plant pubescent, from twelve to eighteen inches high. Root
perennial, fleshy. Stem leafy, round. Leaves large, broad, plaited, resembling
in general structure those of other species of this natural
genus, sheathing the stem at the base, nearly the same colour on both
sides, and covered all over with a short, soft, dense pubescence.
Flowers very handsome and showy, generally solitary, though in
situations favourable to its luxuriance it is sometimes found with two
or three. Petals linear, siskin-green, with reddish spots, the two lateral
petals very long and spirally convoluted. Lower lip and nectary
bright gamboge-yellow. Grows on the sides of stony hills covered
with underwood and small trees, which admit the sun through their
leaves and branches to the ground, from Delaware to Canada. Flowers
in May and June.
The name of the genus Cypripedium is derived from Venus,
and »••a'/.«, a shoe—Venus’s shoe, or Lady’s-slipper. This is the second
species of this curiously constructed genus figured in this work, and
like most of the other species which would be eagerly cultivated
for their beauty and singularity, it is transplanted with difficulty and
rarely flowers the succeeding season, without great care in ensuring
to it the same or similar soil as that in which it naturally grows. The
same obstacle occurs in the cultivation of most of the orchidean plants
of this country; and this shyness of culture is particularly to be regretted,
since this tribe of plants furnishes us with many very elegant
and curious species.
Cypripedium pubescens. l l
Cypripedium pubescens is. a rare plant in the middle states, becoming
more frequent towards the north. In the vicinity of this city
above the falls of Schuylkill on the west side, it was, some years ago,
somewhat frequent, but it has latterly almost entirely disappeared
from that locality. Above the falls as high as French Creek, it is to
be found sparingly.
The figure represents the plant of its common size—the flowers
often being much larger.