(aka: Yellow Moccasin Flower)
Cypripedium calceolus
This magnificent member of the Orchid family is rare (more rare than the closely related Pink Lady's Slipper), but widely scattered throughout the state. The resemblene of the pouch to a moccasin is more apparent in the yellow species than the pink species. Each plant sports 1 or 2 flowers with an inflated, yellow, 1 to 2 inch (2.5 to 5 cm) pouch-shaped lip petal and spirally twisted lateral petals. The pair of sepals are greenish-yellow and lanceolate with one sepal above the lip petal and the other below. The 4 or 5, 8 inch (20 cm) long, oval to elliptic leaves, have pronounced parallel veins. The 4 to 28 inches (10 to 71 cm) tall pants inhabit deep leafmold on rich, moist, wooded banks and bloom in May.
