. Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 11. Botany; Botany. I Reprinted from September, 1933, American Orchid Society Bulletin Native Orchids Our Native Orchids and Their Cultivation 3. The Pink Slipper Orchids* Edgar T. Wherry ^4 I Queen Slipper-orchid (Cypripedium reginae Walt.) Though the largest and seemingly most vigorous of all our native or- chids, this species is not easy to cul- tivate. The difficulty is apparently not a matter of temperature, for un- til destroyed by man it grew at fairly low elevations in Virginia and the Carolinas—^liaving survived the Gla- cial Period
. Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 11. Botany; Botany. I Reprinted from September, 1933, American Orchid Society Bulletin Native Orchids Our Native Orchids and Their Cultivation 3. The Pink Slipper Orchids* Edgar T. Wherry ^4 I Queen Slipper-orchid (Cypripedium reginae Walt.) Though the largest and seemingly most vigorous of all our native or- chids, this species is not easy to cul- tivate. The difficulty is apparently not a matter of temperature, for un- til destroyed by man it grew at fairly low elevations in Virginia and the Carolinas—^liaving survived the Gla- cial Period there,—where the soil be- comes decidedly warm in the sum- mer. After the last ice sheet re- treated, it migrated far north into Canada, so it can evidently with- stand severe cold in winter. Soil acidity is also not concerned, for contrary to popular belief this is not at all an acid-loving plant. It may grow, to be sure, in swamps where sphagnum and other acid mosses cover the surface, but its roots then lie deep down, where the reaction is neutral or essentially so. It needs a more constant supply of moisture than the average garden affords, but even in especially moist situations it will often thrive for a year or two and then suddenly van- ish. Susceptibility to attacks of para- sitic fungi is the only explanation which seems to account for this be- havior, and no way to prevent such attacks is known. If it must be cul- tivated, then the only thing to do is to renew one's stock at frequent in- tervals. Clumps can be purchased from many dealers in native plants, although as they are being collected by thousands from the wild, its col- *rontribution from the Botanical Laboratory an<l Mf rn's Arboretum of the University of Penn- sylvania. onies are rapidly being desftroyed. and unless some one takes up the growing of it from seed, the species will soon disappear from all but the most inaccessible places. MoccAsiNFLOWER, Cypripediiim (Fis- sipes) acaule Aiton. The lowly
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