Cypripedium calceolus

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Asparagales

Familia: Orchidaceae
Subfamilia: Cypripedioideae
Genus: Cypripedium
Subgenus: Cypripedium subg. Cypripedium
Sectio: Cypripedium sect. Cypripedium
Species: Cypripedium calceolus

Name

Cypripedium calceolus L., Sp. Pl.: 951. (1753)

Lectotype: Dodoens, R. (1616) Stirpium historiae pemptades sex, 2nd ed., p. 180, fig. 1

Synonymy

Heterotypic
Calceolus marianus Crantz, Stirp. Austr. Fasc., ed. 2. 2 :454 (1769), nom. superfl.
Cypripedium boreale Salisb., Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 10 (1796), nom. illeg.
Cypripedium ferrugineum Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. 2: 213 (1821), nom. illeg.
Cypripedium atsmori C.Morren, Belgique Hort. 1: 171 (1851)
Type: cultivated
Cypripedilum calceolus Asch., Fl. Brandenburg: 700 (1864), orth. err.
Cypripedium cruciatum Dulac, Fl. Hautes-Pyr.:128 (1867)
Type locality: "France"
Holotype: Saint-Amand s.n. (location unknown)
Cypripedium alternifolium St.-Lag., Ann. Soc. Bot. Lyon 7: 62, 124 (1880), nom. illeg.
Cypripedium marianus (Crantz) Rouy, J. Bot. (Morot) 8: 58 (1894)
Cypripedium calceolus var. atsmori (C.Morren) Pfitzer in Engl., Pflanzenr. 4:50 (1913), comb. illeg.
Cypripedium microsaccos Kraenzl., Russk. Bot. Zhurn. 1913: 58 (1913)
Type locality: "Siberia"
Holotype: Palczewsk s.n. (LE)

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Europe
Northern Europe
Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden.
Middle Europe
Austria, Belgium †, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland.
Southwestern Europe
France, Spain.
Southeastern Europe
Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia.
Eastern Europe
Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine.
Asia-Temperate
Siberia
Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya.
Russian Far East
Amur, Khabarovsk, Primorye, Sakhalin.
China
Inner Mongolia, Manchuria.
Mongolia
Mongolia.
Eastern Asia
Japan, Korea.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition

Cypripedium calceolus, Biology Stamps

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 951.

Additional references

Cribb, P. 1997. The Genus Cypripedium. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press ("Botanical Magazine Monographs"); Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. ISBN 0-88192-403-2
Eccarius, W. 2009. Die Orchideengattung Cypripedium. Phylogenie, Taxonomie, Morphologie, Biologie, Verbreitung, Ökologie, Hybridisation. Bürgel, Germany: EchinoMedia Verlag Dr. Kerstin Ramm, 384 pp. ISBN 978-3-937107-19-6 Reference page.
Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.W. & Rasmussen, F.N. (eds.) 1999. Genera Orchidacearum Volume 1: General Introduction, Apostasioideae, Cypripedioideae; page 114 ff., Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-198505-13-2

Links

Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2020. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Cypripedium calceolus. Accessed: 2020 Sep 2.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Cypripedium calceolus in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Sep 2. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Cypripedium calceolus in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Sep 2. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Cypripedium calceolus. Published online. Accessed: 2 Sep 2020.
The Plant List 2013. Cypripedium calceolus in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Sep 2.
Tropicos.org 2020. Cypripedium calceolus. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Sep 2. ]

Vernacular names

azərbaycanca: Əsl zöhrəçiçəyi
беларуская: Венерын чаравічак сапраўдны
български: венерина пантофка
català: Sabatetes de la Mare de Déu
čeština: Střevičník pantoflíček
Cymraeg: Esgid Fair
dansk: Fruesko, Stor Fruesko
Deutsch: Gelber Frauenschuh
English: Lady's-slipper orchid
español: Zueco de dama
eesti: Kaunis kuldking
فارسی: ارکیده دارزی
suomi: Tikankontti, Lehtotikankontti
français: Sabot de Vénus
Alemannisch: Gählè Frauèschuèh
hrvatski: Gospina papučica
hornjoserbsce: Europski črijenk
magyar: Boldogasszony papucsa
italiano: Scarpetta di Venere
қазақша: Кәдімгі шолпанкебіс
перем коми: Кöккоті, Кӧккоті
lietuvių: Plačialapė klumpaitė
latviešu: Dzeltenā dzegužkurpīte
norsk bokmål: Fruesko, Marisko
Nederlands: Vrouwenschoentje
norsk nynorsk: Marisko, Orkideen marisko
polski: Obuwik pospolity
پنجابی: پیلی سوانی جتی
română: Papucul doamnei
русский: Башмачок настоящий
srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски: Gospina papučica
slovenčina: črievičník papučkový
slovenščina: Lepi čeveljc
српски / srpski: Госпина папучица
svenska: Guckusko
ไทย: รองเท้านารีสีทอง
татарча/tatarça: Чын кәккүк читеге
українська: Зозулині черевички справжні
vepsän kel’: Kur'genkengäd
中文: 杓兰

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 Κυπρισ πεδιον (Kupris pedion), meaning Venus' foot (a reference to the Roman goddess Venus).[2] calceolus is Latin for a small shoe.[3]

Cypripedium calceolus sensu stricto ("in the strict sense") does not occur in North America. 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 orchid species in Europe, growing to 60 cm tall[4] with flowers as wide as 9 cm.[5] 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),[4] which like other orchids exhibit parallel venation. Each shoot has up to four leaves and a small number (1-2) of flowers, 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.[4] It is a long-lived perennial[4] and spreads using horizontal stems (rhizomes).[4]

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, below).

Chromosome number has been given as 2n=20 but also 2n=22[6]
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.[1][7][8]

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 2100m.[9] According to growing instructions provided by Phytesia, it cannot survive waterlogging or direct midday sun.
Inflorescence of C. calceolus
Ecology

Cypripedium calceolus is frequently associated with stands of hazel trees.[10]

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).[10] Plants are very vulnerable to herbivory by slugs and snails.

Cypripedium calceolus is known to primarily associate with mycorrhizal fungi in the genus Tulasnellaceae.[11][12] 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.[13]
Conservation

Although the global conservation status of Cypripedium calceolus is least concern according to the IUCN Red List,[9] 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.[4]

In Britain, it was formerly a reasonably widespread plant across northern England, particularly the limestone area of the Yorkshire Dales.[14] 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.[15] It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act,[16] but a reintroduction programme for the lady's-slipper orchid is in place,[17][18] and has led to a population of hundreds of plants as of 2003.[19]

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.[1]

Other laboratories and breeders have also developed the technique to mass-produce C. calceolus, so plants are commercially available, unlike many orchid species.[20]
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.[21]

The Norwegian municipality of Snåsa 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.
Lady's-slipper orchid, Cypripedium calceolus, from northern Sweden.
References

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
University of Quebec and Montreal - Flora etc.
The Plant World - Origin of Plant Names
Kew Science - Cypripedium calceolus
Nature Gate - Ladys Slipper
Journal of Ecology - Cypripedium calceolus
Altervista Flora Italiana, Yellow Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium calceolus
Flora of China, v 25 p 杓兰 shao lan, Cypripedium calceolus
IUCN Red List - Cypripedium calceolus
Nordic Journal of Botany - Pollination of the Lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) in Scandinavia
Molecular Ecology - High specificity generally characterizes mycorrhizal association in rare lady’s slipper orchids, genus Cypripedium
Biogeography of Mycorrhizal Symbiosis
Orchid Biology - Reviews and Perspectives
Endangered Plants, Jan Čeřovský (1995) ISBN 1-85778-101-5
Britain’s Rare Flowers, Peter Marren (1999) ISBN 0-85661-114-X
"Caithness CWS - Caithness Field Club - Annual Bulletins - 1975 - October - Conservation".
Lady’s-Slipper Orchid Cypripedium calceolus Species Action Plan Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Archived 2010-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
"Re-Introduction Project - Lady's-Slipper, Conservation in action, Britain's Orchids, A guide to the identification and ecology of the wild orchids of Britain and Ireland, David Lang and Natural England". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
Phillip Cribb (July 2003). "Orchid Research Newsletter No. 42". Archived from the original on 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
Phytesia