Cypripedium fasciculatum

Cypripedium fasciculatum, the Clustered Lady's Slipper, is the smallest, the least showy and the rarest of our native Lady's Slippers.  The plant has two (sometimes three) broad, oval leaves but only stands 20 cm or less in height.  The cluster of flowers is on a nodding stem and the flower segments tend to droop as well, hiding the lip.  Occasionally one finds a flower that opens widely, but that is relatively uncommon.  There is a solid brownish-mahogany color form as well as a plain green, but the flowers are usually greenish marked with varying amounts of mahogany.  The first of these we found this season were unusual in having as many as six or seven flowers in a cluster.  Usually there are two to five flowers.

April 25 and 26
(Columbia River Gorge)

May 6
(Columbia River Gorge)

June 30
(Eastern Washington)

June 31
(Eastern Washington)

July 24
(South Cascades)

Brownie Lady's Slippers near Greenwater

Wednesday, July 26th, was our day out for the week (we try to get out once a week in the summer), and we decided to explore the Greenwater area near Mount Rainier and look there for the Clustered or Brownie Lady's Slipper, a native orchid that we had not seen in bloom yet this year.

We left at 3:00 am and drove down to our destination and then up several Forest Service roads, arriving at our trailhead before 7:00 am.  We took our time, stopping for coffee and for breakfast and for for pictures along the way.  Along the FS roads we saw a number of other orchids but did not stop for them until later.

This was a good day for orchids.  We saw ten different species and a color variety of one of them along with many other wildflowers.  One of the species was not yet in bloom and one nearly finished with only a few flowers still hanging on, but this was the star of the show.

The Clustered or Brownie Lady's Slipper is the smallest and rarest of our native Lady's Slippers and this location is protected.  Usually we find this hidden by other vegetation because it is so small, but here the plants were growing in abundance on an open bank.

The plants we saw were 10-15 cm tall with the usual two opposite oval leaves and with one to three flowers per plant and with the usual range of color from green to a rich mahogany purple.  The plants seemed to be thriving in this location with many new seedlings evident.