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Orchidaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Cypripedium parviflorum

Cypripedium parviflorum

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
4/5

Safety & Hazards

Especially during the flowering season, the glandular hairs on the leaves and stems can cause a rash, similar to poison ivy rash[1, 2]. The irritation is usually minor, or only lasts for a few minutes[3]. It has been stated that the roots may cause psychedelic reactions, and large doses may result in giddiness, restlessness, headache, mental excitement and visual hallucinations[4].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Cypripedium parviflorum is a very cold-tolerant plant, when fully dormant it can withstand temperatures down to about -25°c[5]. Found in the wild on moderately moist to dry substrates, confined to predominantly calcareous stony soils, rich in humus, with basic, neutral, to acidic pH soil, favouring shaded, cool, north-facing and well-drained slopes[1]. Succeeds in shade or full sun so long as there is adequate moisture[6]. Grows well in a woodland garden[7]. Plants are best grown on a north or north-west aspect in order to slow down early growth[8]. Requires a humus rich soil with plenty of moisture in the growing season[6], it also succeeds in chalky soils[5]. Must not be planted too deeply[6]. A very ornamental plant[8] it is long-lived when once established, though it is very difficult to establish a plant[9]. The flowers have a soft, rose-like perfume[10]. Plants are growing very well at the Savill Gardens in Windsor[9]. This plant is becoming rarer in the wild due to overcollecting for medicinal usage[11]. Reports that the plant is cultivated for its medicinal uses are largely spurious and, unless you can be certain that the root has come from a cultivated source, it is best not to use this plant medicinally but to use suitable substitutes such as Scutellaria laterifolia and Lavendula angustifolia[11]. Cypripedium parviflorum is an extremely variable species, reflecting individual phenotypic plasticity, infraspecific differentiation, and hybridization with related species. In particular, var. pubescens is difficult to delimit. In exposed situations, especially in calcareous soils, plants are low-growing with ascending, often narrow leaves and rather small flowers; in exposed boreal and arctic sites, plants and flowers may be very small with scarcely spiraled to flat petals. Such plants from Newfoundland were originally described as Cypripedium parviflorum var. planipetalum. When transplanted to less severe conditions however, those plants often develop into larger plants with larger flowers of more common form; indeed, the holotype sheet of var. planipetalum includes a range in habit and floral morphology and includes a plant rather typical of the boreal var. pubescens[1]. Orchids are, in general, shallow-rooting plants of well-drained low-fertility soils. Their symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the soil allows them to obtain sufficient nutrients and be able to compete successfully with other plants. They are very sensitive to the addition of fertilizers or fungicides since these can harm the symbiotic fungus and thus kill the orchid[7]. The flowers of Cypripedium species belong to the group of 'trap' flowers. An insect as it crawls in, can only escape from the slipper-like labellum through a tunnel near the base of the labellum from where it is directed first to the nearby stigma where possible pollinia from another flower on its back are stripped off and while escaping, sticky pollen from the nearby anthers adhere to its back for the pollination of another flower[12].

Propagation

Seed - surface sow, preferably as soon as it is ripe, in the greenhouse and do not allow the compost to dry out. The seed of this species is extremely simple, it has a minute embryo surrounded by a single layer of protective cells. It contains very little food reserves and depends upon a symbiotic relationship with a species of soil-dwelling fungus. The fungal hyphae invade the seed and enter the cells of the embryo. The orchid soon begins to digest the fungal tissue and this acts as a food supply for the plant until it is able to obtain nutrients from decaying material in the soil[5]. It is best to use some of the soil that is growing around established plants in order to introduce the fungus, or to sow the seed around a plant of the same species and allow the seedlings to grow on until they are large enough to move. Division with care in early spring, the plants resent disturbance[5]. Remove part of the original rootball, making sure to keep some of the soil around it intact[5]. Division is best carried out towards the end of the growing season, since food reserves are fairly evenly distributed through the rhizome[7]. Small divisions of a lead and two buds, or divisions from the back (older) part of the rhizome without any developed buds, establish quickly using this method[7]. Replant immediately in situ[7]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Cypripedium+parviflorum>

Pollinators

Bees, Insects

References

  1. [1]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  2. [2]BoDD (Botanical Dermatology Database) — http://bodd.cf.ac.uk/ ↩︎Brief notes on a very wide range of plants that have reports of causing harm to the skin.
  3. [3]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  4. [4]Herbal Medicines. Third Edition — Barnes J., Anderson L.A. & Phillipson J.D. · Pharmaceutical Press; London · 2007 · ISBN 978 0 85369 623 0 ↩︎Providing mongraphs on 152 medicinal plants with lots of references to allow further research. A very good book, it can be downloaded from the Internet
  5. [5]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  6. [6]Hardy Bulbs.; Including Half-hardy Bulbs and Tuberous and Fiberous-rooted Plants — Grey. C. H. · Williams & Norgate. · 1938 · ISBN - ↩︎Rather dated now, but an immense work on bulbs for temperate zones and how to grow them. Three large volumes.
  7. [7]Hardy Orchids. Orchids for the Garden and Frost-free Greenhouse. — Cribb. P. & Bailes. C. · Christopher Helm. London. · 1989 · ISBN 0 7470 0416 1 ↩︎An excellent book looking at the orchids that can be grown outdoors in temperate climates and giving lots of information on how to grow them. Very lttle information on their uses.
  8. [8]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  9. [9]Perennial Garden Plants — Thomas. G. S. · J. M. Dent & Sons, London. · 1990 · ISBN 0 460 86048 8 ↩︎A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.
  10. [10]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  11. [11]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  12. [12]Flora of Pakistan — http://www.efloras.org ↩︎As of 2006, there is not much information on habitats available, but it is being developed and promises to be an excellent resource.
  13. [13]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  14. [14]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  15. [15]Medicinal Orchids of Asia — Eng Soon Teoh · Springer International Publishing Switzerland · 2016 · https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24274-3 · ISBN 978-3-319-24272-9 ↩︎
  16. [16]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  17. [17]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  18. [18]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  19. [19]Narcotic Plants — Emboden. W. · Studio Vista · 1979 · ISBN 0-289-70864-8 ↩︎A lot of details about the history, chemistry and use of narcotic plants, including hallucinogens, stimulants, inebriants and hypnotics.
  20. [20]A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. — Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. · Houghton Mifflin Co. · 1990 · ISBN 0395467225 ↩︎A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
  21. [21]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  22. [22]Homeopathic Materia Medica — William Boericke, M.D. · http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/index.htm ↩︎An on-line version of the book
  23. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎