Orchid Family – Orchidaceae
Actual flower size:1 inch across
Plant Description: The Mountain Lady’s Slipper is 1 to 2 feet tall. Numerous, large, broadly-oval, clasping, parallel-veined leaves alternate up the stem. Each of the 1 to 3 blossoms is attached above a leaf, one above the other.
Flower Description: The lower petal inflates into a white pouch about 1 inch long, sometimes with purplish veins. There is one central sepal and two smaller petals above the pouch which twist and show shades of yellowish-greenish purple with darker purple stripes. Two similar sepals hang underneath the pouch.
Ecology: The Mountain Lady’s Slipper grows in deep humus on well-drained, but moist mountain slopes, in conifer forests at low to middle elevations east of the Cascade Mountains.
Note: The Mountain Lady’s Slipper is very fragrant.
Mountain Lady’s Slipper Photo Gallery
Photo information: #4502 was taken on July 17, 2004 on the Red Top Trail, Hwy 97, Mineral Springs, WA; the other photos were taken on June 9, 2012 on the Ingall’s Creek Trail, Hwy 97, Blewett Pass.
Actual flower size:1 inch across