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Cypripedium kentuckiense
Also called Southern Lady's Slipper, Southern Yellow Lady's Slipper, Ivory Lady's Slipper, Purloined Slipper
Kentucky lady's slipper is a terrestrial orchid native to the southeastern United States, known for having the largest flower in the genus Cypripedium. It is a hardy wild woodland species that is very hard to grow in gardens because it needs specific soil, moisture and mycorrhizal fungi, so it is best left in the wild.
Cypripedium kentuckiense, the Kentucky lady's slipper or southern lady's slipper, is a member of the orchid genus Cypripedium. Members of this genus are commonly referred to as lady's slipper orchids.
Originally thought to be an aberrant form of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens, the morphology of C. kentuckiense suggests it is a species of its own. However, molecular evidence suggests that C. kentuckiense is more closely related to Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum than it is to Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens.
Cypripedium kentuckiense is found in a large swathe through the Southern United States including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Additionally, there is a small patch in Lancaster County, Virginia.
Pink lady's slipper · Ram's head lady's slipper · Lady's-slipper orchid · California lady's slipper · White 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
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cypripedium kentuckiense 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.
