Moccasin flowers, or showy lady’s slippers (Cypripedium Reginae) grow in a wet road-side ditch near Deer River, Minnesota. (Photo by T. Murray Hughes; used with permission.)
North America’s largest native orchid, the pink and white showy lady’s slipper, or moccasin flower, (Cypripedium reginae) is blooming in Minnesota now. Found in sunny, wet environments, such as bogs, swamps and damp meadows, it is one of six moccasin flowers native to Minnesota. Bloom time is from early June through mid-July.
Its white petals and sepals spread out over a deep pink labellum (lip), which is the moccasin or slipper that gives the flower its name. A new plant may take up to 15 years to mature and produce its first flower. Showy lady’s slipper is Minnesota’s state flower, but is now uncommon in much of the state due to drainage of wetlands, use of roadside herbicides and other habitat disruption. While not classified as endangered, it is a protected species, which makes it illegal to pick the flowers or move the plants.
An Anishinaabe legend tells the story of the moccasin flower. One winter a village was decimated by disease. The tribal leaders were too ill to go to other settlements for medicine. A young woman of the tribe snuck out of the settlement and obtained medicine from another village. However, she wasn’t able to make it back to her home because of the brutal winter conditions. She was rescued by others from her village and the medicine was delivered in time to save her people. The story says that the lovely slipper flowers grew wherever her moccasins left prints in the snow.
Sources
University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: Orchids at the Arboretum
Nature, Garden, Life 