Showy Lady's Slipper
Cypripedium reginae
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The Showy Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium reginae) is Minnesota's state flower, and it is one of the most spectacular wild orchids in North America. Its large white petals frame a rounded, pouch-shaped lip flushed with rose-pink — the "slipper" that gives the plant its name. It grows in sunny, wet places such as fens, bogs, wet meadows, and tamarack swamps, and blooms in late June into July. This is one of the signature sights of the wetland area at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.
Showy Lady's Slipper is remarkably slow-growing: a plant may take well over a decade from seed to its first flower, and individual plants can live for many decades. In Minnesota it is illegal to pick, uproot, or unlawfully destroy this and other native lady's slippers. Always admire them where they grow and never dig them from the wild.
Quick Facts
| Scientific name | Cypripedium reginae |
| Family | — |
| Height | 1-3 ft |
| Bloom time | Jun-Jul |
| Sun | Part shade |
| Moisture | Wet |
| Soil | Calcareous peat, muck |
| Wildlife value | Minnesota's state flower. Protected - never dig or pick. Can take 16 years to first bloom |
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