Upright plants with showy, yellow, pouch-like lower lip. Flowers with a slight fragrance. 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; leaf highlighted in photo above was 9 cm long and 2.5 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. Fairly common.

We measured plants to 35 cm tall.

Photos taken June 18th wet meadow on edge of tree line in east central Saskatchewan, and June 28th in mossy, wet 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.