Canadian Native Orchids - Cypripedium parviflorum

Cypripedium parviflorum
Salisbury var. parviflorum
[Cypripedium calceolus Linnaeus var. parviflorum (Salisbury) Fernald]
Small Yellow Lady's-slipper
Southern Small Yellow Lady's-slipper

Location Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario.

Specific Habitat
This variety of the yellow lady's-slipper is limited to the southern parts of Eastern Canada. It is found in deciduous forests of drier and often more acidic sites than var. pubescens.

Flowering Season
May to June.

Description
Height: to 40 cm.
Leaves: 3-5, ovate-lanceolate and plicate. The leaves are broad, spreading and evenly spaced. The outer surface of the sheathing bract is densely and conspicuously pubescent when young.
Flowers: 1-2, 22-34mm. Long; sepals and petals usually densely and minutely spotted with dark reddish-brown and appearing uniformly dark. Floral fragrance is rose-like in common with var. pubescens.

Comments
The keys to separating this variety from the others are the scent, the size of the flower, and the dense pubescence on the emerging flower bract.
This variety often inhabits markedly acidic soils.
This is also the rarest of the varieties of C. parviflorum in the American Northeast.

References
1994 AOS Bulletin 63(6): 664-669
1995 AOS Bulletin 64(6): 606-612
Orchids of the Northeast
The Genus Cypripedium
The Native Orchids of the United States and Canada excluding Florida
The Orchids of Bruce & Grey

Habitat Plant Flower

Location	Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario.
Specific Habitat	This variety of the yellow lady's-slipper is limited to the southern parts of Eastern Canada. It is found in deciduous forests of drier and often more acidic sites than var. pubescens.
Flowering Season	May to June.
Description	Height: to 40 cm. Leaves: 3-5, ovate-lanceolate and plicate. The leaves are broad, spreading and evenly spaced. The outer surface of the sheathing bract is densely and conspicuously pubescent when young. Flowers: 1-2, 22-34mm. Long; sepals and petals usually densely and minutely spotted with dark reddish-brown and appearing uniformly dark. Floral fragrance is rose-like in common with var. pubescens.
Comments	The keys to separating this variety from the others are the scent, the size of the flower, and the dense pubescence on the emerging flower bract. This variety often inhabits markedly acidic soils. This is also the rarest of the varieties of C. parviflorum in the American Northeast.
References	1994 AOS Bulletin 63(6): 664-669 1995 AOS Bulletin 64(6): 606-612 Orchids of the Northeast The Genus Cypripedium The Native Orchids of the United States and Canada excluding Florida The Orchids of Bruce & Grey