Burke: Cypripedium montanum vs. Cypripedium fasciculatum

	Cypripedium montanum	Cypripedium fasciculatum
	mountain lady's-slipper	clustered lady's-slipper
Habit	Glandular-pubescent, perennial herbs, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, leafy throughout.	Perennial herbs 0.5-2 dm. tall, the stem with long, soft hairs and a sheathing bract near the ground.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, broadly elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 5-15 cm. long and up to 7 cm. broad, sessile and sheathing.	A pair of leaves about midway on the stem, sessile, broadly-elliptic to elliptic-oval, 4-8 cm. broad, rounded; 1-2 lanceolate bracts near the inflorescence.
Flowers	Flowers 1-3 near the tip of the stem, each subtended and usually exceeded by an erect leaf-like bract; sepals and petals light to deep brownish-purple, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, the upper sepal 4-5 cm. long, the lower pair shorter, fused nearly to the tip; 2 small petals spreading, up to 6.5 cm. long; the third petal (lip) pouch-like, obovoid, 2-3 cm. long, dull white, usually purplish-veined; fertile stamens 2, the third stamen sterile and petal-like, up to 10 mm. long, ovate, yellowish-white and purple-spotted.	Flowers terminal, 2-4 in a tight cluster, subtended by conspicuous, greenish bracts; sepals 3, the lower pair fused completely below the lip, lanceolate-acuminate, 12-25 mm. long, greenish-brown or greenish-purple, usually mottled; the 2 small petals similar to the sepals, spreading, the third petal (lip) pouch-like, greenish-yellow with brownish-purple margins; fertile stamens 2, a third stamen sterile and petal-like, 2.5-3 mm. long.
Fruits	Capsule.	Capsule.

	Cypripedium montanum	Cypripedium fasciculatum
Flowering time	May-July	April-July
Habitat	Dry to moist open woods, low to mid-elevations in the mountains.	Moist to rather dry and rocky, open coniferous forests.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to Montana and Wyoming. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Santa Cruz County, California, east to Montana and Colorado. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	C. ×columbianum, C. fasciculatum, C. parviflorum	C. ×columbianum, C. montanum, C. parviflorum
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Cypripedium fasciculatum

mountain lady's-slipper

clustered lady's-slipper

Habit

Glandular-pubescent, perennial herbs, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, leafy throughout.

Perennial herbs 0.5-2 dm. tall, the stem with long, soft hairs and a sheathing bract near the ground.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, broadly elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 5-15 cm. long and up to 7 cm. broad, sessile and sheathing.

A pair of leaves about midway on the stem, sessile, broadly-elliptic to elliptic-oval, 4-8 cm. broad, rounded; 1-2 lanceolate bracts near the inflorescence.

Flowers

Flowers 1-3 near the tip of the stem, each subtended and usually exceeded by an erect leaf-like bract;

sepals and petals light to deep brownish-purple, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, the upper sepal 4-5 cm. long, the lower pair shorter, fused nearly to the tip; 2 small petals spreading, up to 6.5 cm. long; the third petal (lip) pouch-like, obovoid, 2-3 cm. long, dull white, usually purplish-veined;

fertile stamens 2, the third stamen sterile and petal-like, up to 10 mm. long, ovate, yellowish-white and purple-spotted.

Flowers terminal, 2-4 in a tight cluster, subtended by conspicuous, greenish bracts;

sepals 3, the lower pair fused completely below the lip, lanceolate-acuminate, 12-25 mm. long, greenish-brown or greenish-purple, usually mottled; the 2 small petals similar to the sepals, spreading, the third petal (lip) pouch-like, greenish-yellow with brownish-purple margins;

fertile stamens 2, a third stamen sterile and petal-like, 2.5-3 mm. long.

Fruits

Capsule.