Highway ditch, plants with lower lip to 30 mm in length, plant height to 31 cm tall; 15 cm / 6 inch ruler for scale
Upright plants with showy, yellow, pouch-like lower lip. Two
lateral, twisted petals, one sepal above the pouch, and the two
sepals under the pouch are united. Stems are pubescent, leaf margins
hairy and also hairy on undersides along the nerves. Leaves are
alternate, oval to elliptical, clasp the stem somewhat, we measured
them to 12 cm long and 4 cm wide.
Distinguished from Large Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium
parviflorum var. pubescens) chiefly by the size of the
lower lip, which in Large Yellow Lady's Slipper is > 30 mm
in length, and less than 30 mm for Small Yellow Lady's Slipper.
The lateral petals in Large Yellow Lady's Slipper in general are
lighter in colour, yellowish-green streaked with brown, and not
the dark brown colour often found in Small Yellow Lady's Slipper.
Habitat ranges from moist grassland meadows in the eastern Parklands in Saskatchewan to coniferous bogs in our boreal forest.
Photos taken June 5th in a highway ditch, and June 22nd in
mossy, wet black spruce forest in central Saskatchewan.
I get preachy here: please don't dig up native orchids such as
Lady's Slippers to try to grow them in your garden. They are becoming
rare in the wild due to loss of habitat and wild harvesting. They
are difficult to transplant successfully from the wild. If you
want to grow them in your garden, there are nurseries who grow
native orchids from seed who will sell plants to you.