David Albeck's Photos of Lady's-Slipper Orchids

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At least five species of lady's-slipper orchid grow wild in New England, but the only one I've seen so far is Cypripedium acaule, called the pink lady's-slipper. As you can see, they range in color from pure white to a deep purple. Shades of pink are most common, but I tend to photograph the more extreme colors, since they're more interesting.

The purest white ones seem to be albinos: they have no pigment (other than green and white) anywhere. The almost-pure-white ones have some dark pigment in their sepals, though less of it than the ordinary pink ones.

The other four regional species (which I haven't found yet) are C. parviflorum, yellow lady's-slipper, C. reginae, showy lady's-slipper, C. arietinum, ram's-head lady's-slipper, and C. candidum, white lady's-slipper.

This page is arranged in two sections: first, blooms arranged by petal color, with the darkest flowers first and palest last. Next, a section of buds and fruit, with the youngest buds first and the ripest fruit last. Note that emerging flowers are always white - the petals darken as they mature.

Click a thumbnail to see a full-size photo. Follow the text links to see the original gallery for each photo.