Beauty of It All
Meet The Ladies: The Slipper Orchids
Cypripedium arietinum: Ram’s-head lady’s slipper
The ram’s-head lady’s slipper occurs from central and eastern Canada through the great lakes region of the north central and northeastern United States.

Photo by Susan Trull.

Courtesy of Flora of North America.
Cypripedium arietinum is a small plant with usually 3, but up to 5, leaves per stem. The species is distinguished by the single flower on each flowering stem having divided lateral sepals and a distinctive pouch shaped like an inverted, hairy, conical hat covered with crimson varicose venation and white at the lip.

Photo by Susan Trull.
The plants grow in cool, moist woodlands and coniferous forests among tamaracks and spruce or cedar with a preference for moist, mossy bogs. However, it also can be found in shady roadside ditches.
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