Fairyslipper - Calypso bulbosa

Fairyslipper
Calypso bulbosa (L.) Oakes

Family: Orchidaceae, Orchid
Genus: Calypso

Description
General: perennial, erect, hairless herb, stem 5-20 cm tall,
delicate, tinged pink or purple, from bulb-like corm, ovoid,
15-25 mm long.

Leaves: basal, single, grown from the top of the corm
in the fall and persistent through the winter, withering in the
summer, the blade usually longer than the stalk, broadly
ovate-elliptic to oblong-ovate, dark green, distinctly veined,
mostly 3-6 cm long.

Flowers: single (very rarely 2), sweet-scented, nodding,
the sepals and two petals alike, erect to ascending, 15-22
mm long, lanceolate, magenta with 3 deeper-colored veins.
Lip large, slipper-like, yellow-hairy in the middle, hanging
down, slightly longer than the other tepals, about 10 mm
wide, yellowish- or reddish-purple, spotted on the flanged
appendage and streaked inside the sac with brownish-
purple. Reproductive column magenta to light purple,
nearly horizontal, concave, hooded.
Flowering time: Late May-June.

Fruits: erect, elliptic capsule, about 1 cm long, with
10,000-20,000 tiny seeds.

Distribution
Mostly in rather deep shade of cool, moist forests, in soil
rich with decaying leaves and wood, foothills to montane
zone, in w. and c. parts of MT. Also from AK to Labrador,
and s. to CA, AZ, CO, MN, MI, NY and ME, and Eurasia.

Edible and Medicinal plant, see below.

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Contents
Identification
English Names Index
Scientific Names Index
Family Index

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Edible Uses:
The bulbs of fairyslipper are edible, raw or cooked, and have a rich, butter-like quality. They were usually boiled by the North American Indians before they were eaten.

Medicinal Uses:
The bulbs have antispasmodic properties and have been used by the Thompson Indians for chewing or the flowers sucked in the treatment of mild epilepsy.