Flora of North America species comparison

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Calypso bulbosa

calypso, calypso orchid, fairy-slipper, fairy-slipper orchid, Venus' slipper
Habit Plants 4.5–22 cm.
Leaves

blade elliptic to suborbiculate or ovate, often cordate, 10–65 × 12–52 mm.
Inflorescences

floral bracts lance-acuminate, 5–28 mm.
Flowers

pink, magenta, or rarely white;

sepals and petals erect-spreading, linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 10–24 × 1.5–5 mm;

lip 13–23 × 4–13 mm, lamina shorter than to longer than apical horns, basal bristles sparse to extensive, brightly and contrastingly colored to dull and obscure.
Capsules

erect, ellipsoid to lanceoloid, 2–3 × 1–1.5 cm.
2n

= 28 [var. bulbosa].

Calypso bulbosa
Distribution
from USDA
North America; Circumpolar; Europe; Asia (China, Japan, Russia)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Bristles of lip yellow, extensive; lamina white or suffused with pink, usually equaling or longer than horns.
var. americana
1. Bristles of lip whitish or color of lamina, sparse; lamina commonly with reddish markings on dull white, usually shorter than horns.
var. occidentalis
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 623.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Epidendroideae > tribe Calypsoeae > Calypso
Subordinate taxa
C. bulbosa var. americana, C. bulbosa var. occidentalis
Synonyms Cypripedium bulbosum, Cytherea bulbosa
Name authority (Linnaeus) Oakes: in Z. Thompson, Nat. Hist. Vermont 1: 200. (1842)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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