Cypripedium calceolus

''Cypripedium calceolus'' is a lady's-slipper orchid, and the type species of the genus ''Cypripedium''. It is native to Europe and Asia.

Taxonomy

''Cypripedium'' comes from the Greek Κύπρις πεδίον (''Kypris pedion''), meaning Aphrodite's foot (a reference to the goddess Aphrodite, equivalent to the Roman Venus). ''calceolus'' is Latin for a small shoe.

''Cypripedium calceolus'' does not occur in North America, though the closely related '' Cypripedium parviflorum'' and '' C. pubescens'' are often still referred to as subspecies or varieties of ''C. calceolus''.

Description

This is the largest-flowered orchid species in Europe, growing to 60 cm tallKew Science - Cypripedium calceolus
/ref> with flowers as wide as 9 cm. Before it flowers, it is distinguished from other orchids by the large size and width of its ovate leaves (as big as 18 cm long, 9 cm wide), which like other orchids exhibit parallel venation. Each shoot has up to four leaves and a small number of flowers (typically one or two), which have long often twisted petals varying from red-brown to black (rarely green) and a slipper-shaped yellow labellum, within which red dots are visible. It is a long-lived perennial and spreads using horizontal stems (rhizomes).

''Cypripedium calceolus'' can be confused, when not flowering, with '' Allium ursinum'', '' Convallaria majalis'' or several species of '' Epipactis'' orchid. It closely resembles other species of ''Cypripedium'' orchid native to the United States (see taxonomy).

Chromosome number has been given as 2n=20 but also 2n=22

Distribution and habitat

It has a widespread distribution from Europe east through Asia from Spain to the Pacific, including almost every country in Europe plus Russia (European Russia, Siberia, and the Russian Far East), northeastern China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol), Mongolia, Korea and Rebun Island in Japan.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

It is typically found in open woodland on moist calcareous soils. In continental Europe it is also found growing in the decomposed humus of semi-shaded woodland cover on limestone. It has declined over much of the European part of its range, and as a result is legally protected in a number of countries. Its upper elevation limit is .

left, upInflorescence of ''C. calceolus''

Ecology

''Cypripedium calceolus'' is frequently associated with stands of hazel trees.Nordic Journal of Botany - Pollination of the Lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) in Scandinavia
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It is pollinated by a number of different insect species, including at least seven species of miner bee in the genera ''Andrena'' and '' Colletes'', as well as at least two species of ''Lasioglossum'' (furrow bees). Plants are very vulnerable to herbivory by slugs and snails.

''Cypripedium calceolus'' is known to primarily associate with mycorrhizal fungi in the genus ''Tulasnellaceae''. Specific relationships with mycorrhizal fungi are key to orchids' ability to access soil nutrients. Other suggested mycorrhizal partners include ''Alternaria'' sp., '' Ceratorhiza'' sp., ''Chaetomium'' sp., '' Cylindrocarpon'' sp., '' Epicoccum purpureum'', '' Epulorhiza'' sp., '' Moniliopsis'' sp., '' Mycelium radicis atrovirens'', '' Phoma'' sp. and '' Rhizoctonia subtilis'' sp.

Conservation

Although the global conservation status of ''Cypripedium calceolus'' is least concern according to the IUCN Red List, in many countries (including the UK and Denmark) it has become rare and is afforded legal protection. ''C. calceolus'' is common in Poland and Austria but in Greece it has become extinct.

In Britain, it was formerly a reasonably widespread plant across northern England, particularly the limestone area of the Yorkshire Dales. By the late 20th century it had declined to just a single plant in one location in the Dales. While the virtual extinction of the lady's-slipper orchid from its historical range in Britain is often blamed on uprooting by gardeners and botanists, it is also the case that its preferred habitat shrank markedly with human clearance of woodland from the limestone landscape, and the grazing of sheep will have finished it off. It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act, but a reintroduction programme for the lady's-slipper orchid is in place, and has led to a population of hundreds of plants as of 2003. In June 2024 a plant was found which was the first to germinate of its own accord since 1930.

With the help of Dutch plant breeder and wholesaler Anthura, who made the Genus and this species commercially available in garden centers, this species is successfully reintroduced in several locations in Switzerland at the request of the Swiss Orchid Foundation. Seeds from the Swiss population were used by Anthura resulting in three thousand viable plants available for the reintroduction. The locations are kept secret, but are monitored regularly.

In popular culture

''Cypripedium calceolus'' has appeared on postage stamps in a huge number of countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Grenadines, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Madagascar, Moldova, Mozambique, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Uganda, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.Google Images
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Snåsa Municipality in Norway has a ''Cypripedium calceolus'' in its coat-of-arms.

In Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov's "In the Forests", a ''znakharka'' (Russian wise woman) calls this Adam's head, Adam's grass, and Cuckoo's slippers and says it is good for every ill including driving away evil spirits.

References

External links

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Tela Botanica, Sabot-de-Vénus, ''Cypripedium calceolus''

Verband Botanischer Garten, ''Cypripedium calceolus'' (Frauenschuh)


Au Jardin, Le Monde, Sabot de Vénus

{{Taxonbar, from=Q156124

calceolus
Orchids of Europe
Orchids of China
Orchids of Japan
Orchids of Korea
Orchids of Russia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Terrestrial orchids
Habitats Directive species