C * ]
C Y P R I P E D I U M Calceolus.
Ladies Slipper.
/ b £
G T N A N b R 1 A Diandria.
G eneric C ha r a c t e r . NeStarium large, inflated,
and hollow.
Sp e c if ic C har. Roots fibrous. Leaves ovato-lanceo-
late, growing on the Item. Flower with four petals.
S y n . Cypripedium Calceolus. L in n . Sp. PI. 1346*
Hudf. Flo. An. 392. Withering's Bot. Arr. 1001.
Calceolus Maris. Raii Syn. 385.
I f the beauty or fcarcityof a plant, or the Angularity of its
ftructure, entitle it to our notice, the Ladies Slipper certainly
merits the firft place in a work on Britifh plants. It may indeed
be reckoned the queen of all the European Orchideae. Accordingly
it has not only been admired and cherifhed by the fcientific
botanift, but it has among gardeners always been fold at the
higheft price of any Britifh vegetable.
It is confined to fome remote and little frequented woods in
the North of England. In a garden this plant is cultivated with
more eafe than many of its tribe. If dried with care it will pre-
ferve the colour of its leaves and flowers much better than plants
of the Orchis kind generally do.
We have no other fpecies of this genus wild in England, nor
indeed in Europe, except the rare Cypripedium bulbofum of
Lapland, which few botanifts have ever feen.