Orchidaceae
Cypripedium

Cypripedium cordigerum D.Don

First published in Prodr. Fl. Nepal.: 37 (1825)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is N. Pakistan to Himalaya and S. Tibet. It is a rhizomatous geophyte and grows primarily in the temperate biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Distribution

Pakistan, N. India, Nepal, Bhutan, S. Xizang (Tibet).

Ecology

In wet and shady woods, open Abies (fir) forest on outskirts afforest or in open glades and in Caragana (pea shrub) and Juniperus (juniper) scrub on south-facing slopes; 2100-4000 m. Flowering In July and August.

General Description

A terrestrial herb 22-60 cm tall, growing from a very short stout rhizome. Stems solitary, slender to stout, to 55 cm long, 3-8 mm in diameter, increasingly pubescent and glandular from the base upwards, with three to four tubular sheaths at the base and two to five leaves well-spaced along its length. Leaves elliptic to broadly elliptic, acute to acuminate, 8-18 cm long, 3.5-10.5 cm wide, glabrous above and below, sparsely ciliate on the lower margins. Inflorescence one- or rarely two-flowered; peduncle 4-15 cm long, glandular especially towards the apex; bract leaf-like, elliptic to lanceolate, acuminate, 6-9 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, pubescent on veins of lower side, ciliate. Flower variable in size, sepals and petals green or pale green, rarely white or pale lemon-yellow, lip white spotted with pink within, staminode yellow with red spots; pedicel and ovary (2-) 3-4 cm long, densely glandular. Dorsal sepal lanceolate, acuminate, 2.8-6 cm long, 1.4-2 cm wide, pubescent at base on inner side and on outside, ciliate towards apex; synsepal narrowly elliptic, with two free acuminate tips, 3.5-5 cm long, 1-1.7 cm wide, pubescent on outside, ciliate. Petals lanceolate or linear and tapering above, acuminate, 2.8-5.5 cm long, 0.5-1.1 cm. Wide, pubescent at base within, eciIiate. Lip porrect, somewhat ellipsoidal or globose and dorsiventrally flattened, with a small mouth, 2.5-3.5 cm long; side lobes infolded and creased. Column 1-1.5 cm long; staminode oblong-trullate, obtuse, slightly longitudinally concave, . 9 mm long, 5 mm wide, glabrous.

Biology

Flowering In July and August.

[C-EM]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/43315517/43327629

Conservation
VU - vulnerable
[IUCN]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Cypripedioideae: e-monocot.org

    • All Rights Reserved

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0