Mountain Lady's Slipper
(Cypripedium montanum )
Orchidaceae

Photo by Joe Molter, BLM

Description: Perennial from rhizome with glandular-pubescent stem, 8 to 24 inches (20-60 cm) and leafy throughout; leaves broadly elleptic to ovate-elliptic, 2 to 6 inches (5-15 cm) long, up to 3 inches (7 cm) broad, somewhat glandular-pubescent, sessile, usually sheathing; flowers few, 1-3; sepals and petals are light to deep brownish-purple, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, usually twisted and wavy; lip oblong, around 1 inch (2-3 cm) long, dull white to purplish-tinged, usually purplish-veined; staminodium yellowish and usually purplish-spotted.

Distribution: Central & Northern Sierra Nevada, Cascade Ranges, Klamath Ranges and North Coast Ranges.

Habitat: Moist woods within the broadleaved upland forest, cismontane woodland, lower maintane coniferous forest and North Coast coniferous forest having 60 to 80 percent conopy closure and at elevations from 1500 to 6500 feet (495-2146 m).

Flowering Period: May to July

Similar Plants: Cyprepedium californicum, which is found in the wettest conditons, i.e. banks of streams, hillside seeps and water edges of bog like areas and grows, almost exclusively in and among serpentine rocks or in serpentive-based soils.

Status: BLM Sensitive, California Native Plants Society List 4