Orchidaceae
Cypripedium

Cypripedium japonicum Thunb.

First published in J.A.Murray (ed.), Syst. Veg., ed. 14.: 817 (1784)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central & E. Central China, Central & S. Korea, Japan. It is a rhizomatous geophyte and grows primarily in the temperate biome.

Descriptions

Ecology

In and on edge ofbamboo groves and in thin montane forest often near water, in dappled shade; 1000-2000 m. Flowering in May and early June.

Distribution

Japan (Awaji, Kyushu, S. Hokkaido, NE. Honshu, Sado, Shikoku), Korea, China (Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, S. Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, NE. Guizhou).

Biology

Flowering in May and early June.

General Description

A terrestrial herb 25-45 cm tall, with a slender flexuous creeping rhizome, 15-40 cm long, 0.2-0.3 cm in diameter, bearing occasional scales and bunches of roots at intervals. Stems erect, slender, 0.4-0.5 cm in diameter, densely tomentose hairy, enclosed in several obtuse overlapping sheaths in lower part, bearing two subopposite leaves just above the middle. Leaves more or less horizontal, flabellate from a short sheathing base, rounded, obtuse or apiculate at the apex, 8-16 cm long, 7-23.5 cm wide, the margins undulate all round, usually glabrous but sometimes sparsely hairy, with radiating veins which apparently terminate at the margin. Inflorescence one-flowered, erect; peduncle slender, terete, 7-12 cm long, hairy; bract leafy, ovate or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 3-6.5 cm long, 0.4-5.2 cm wide. Flower nutant, the sepals and petals pale yellow or yellow-green with purple spots at the base, the lip whitish or yellowish pink with carmine or crimson spots and veins, more intense on the inner surface, the staminode purplered with a green or yellow central line; pedicel and ovary 1.4-3 cm long, densely pubescent. Dorsal sepalincurved, lanceolate, acuminate, 4-6 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide; synsepal elliptic-ovate, acuminate and bidentate at apex, 3.5-5 cm long, 1.2-2 cm wide. Petals falcate, lanceolate, acuminate, 3.5-6 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm wide, hairy at the base on inner side. Lip calceiform, pendent, somewhat Lshaped in side view, with a crimped and grooved apical part, 3.8-6 cm long, 3-3.5 cm across. Column greenish-white, about 1 cm long; staminode convex, ovate or cordate, with two obscure longitudinal ridges, 1 cm long, 0.8-0.9 cm wide.

[C-EM]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13188414/16672875

Conservation
EN - endangered
[IUCN]

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]

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

    • 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 2024. 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 2024. 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

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images