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Cypripedium candidum
Also called Small White Lady's Slipper, Prairie Lady Slipper
Cypripedium candidum is a small, slow-growing wild orchid of North American prairie wetlands and fens, found mainly in the Upper Midwest. It is rarely grown in gardens and is protected in several places, so it should be left in the wild or grown only from responsibly sourced material.
Cypripedium candidum, known as the small white lady's slipper or white lady's slipper, is a small herbaceous plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It is native to eastern North America, with its range centered in the Upper Midwest and a majority of plants occurring in Minnesota. Disjunct populations occur as far south as Arkansas and Alabama.
A slow-growing perennial, C. candidum typically grows in full sun in alkaline wetlands and fens, especially on calcareous soils. It requires high-quality habitats with diverse native prairie flora and has declined in many areas because of habitat loss caused by agricultural conversion, woody encroachment, and invasive species. The plant is considered vulnerable across all of its range and is listed as an endangered species in several jurisdictions.
Pink lady's slipper · Ram's head lady's slipper · Lady's-slipper orchid · California lady's slipper · Dickinson's lady's slipper · Elegant Cypripedium · Clustered lady's slipper · Yellow Cypripedium · Formosa's lady's slipper · Franchet's Cypripedium · Spotted lady's slipper · Henry's Cypripedium
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cypripedium candidum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
