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Cypripedium parviflorum Salisb.
Small Yellow Lady's-slipper
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: Rare
Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S3
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): No
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: High Conservation Concern
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 85
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Montane cove forests; rich deciduous forests
Perennial herb, 3 - 28 inches (7 - 70 cm) tall, with 3 - 5 leaves evenly spaced along an erect, hairy stem. Leaves are up to 8 inches (20 cm) long and 4 inches wide, alternate, broadly oval with pointed tips and clasping leaf bases, hairy, strongly ribbed. Flowers 1 - 2 per plant, held at the top of the stem, fragrant, with an erect, green bract behind each flower. Each flower consists of a yellow, pouch-like lip petal (“slipper”) up to 2 inches (5.4 cm) long and 1.4 inch wide (3.5 cm); 2 spirally twisted, drooping petals, 1 - 4 inches (2.4 - 9.7 cm) long; and 2 sepals, one curved over the top of the flower and another curved behind the slipper; sepals and petals are green with maroon spots or solid maroon. The fruit is an oval capsule, up to 2 inches (5 cm) long.
Some botanists recognize 2 varieties of Yellow Lady’s Slipper; both are state-listed as Rare in Georgia. They are difficult to tell apart and occur in the same habitat. Small-flowered Yellow Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum) lip is 0.9 - 1.3 inch (2.2 - 3.4 cm) long, and its petals and sepals appear uniformly maroon; its flowers smell of vanilla. The lip of Large-flowered Yellow Lady’s Slipper (C. parviflorum var. pubescens) is up to 2.1 inches (5.4 cm) long, and the petals and sepals are green with maroon spots and streaks; its flowers smell lemony.
Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) is state-listed as Unusual; it occurs in dry upland pine-hardwood forests in north and central Georgia. For more information, see: https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=19349
Kentucky Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium kentuckiense) is state-listed as Endangered; it is known from only one natural population in the upper Coastal Plain. For more information, see: https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=21658
Both varieties of Yellow Lady’s Slipper (var. parviflorum and var. pubescens) occur in rich, cove hardwood forests in the mountains.
Yellow Lady’s Slippers are perennial herbs that reproduce sexually. Their flowers are pollinated by bees that are attracted to their color and fragrance. When a bee enters the colorful, inflated lip through a one-way opening, it quickly discovers that neither pollen nor nectar are available, and, worse, that it cannot readily escape. The bee can exit the flower only through two openings at the back of the lip; as it leaves the flower through one of these openings, its back brushes against the female part of the flower, leaving a packet of pollen that it picked up from the last flower that it visited. It also picks up a new packet of pollen from the male part of the flower to take to the next flower it visits. The pollen is held in small packets that stick to the bee’s back where it cannot be removed by the bee. Bees soon learn to avoid these flowers that fail to provide nectar and pollen.
Although flowers remain on the plants for several weeks to increase the chances of pollination, few plants in a population will produce fruit in a given year. Fortunately, each fruit contains thousands of seeds, but the seeds are tiny, containing no stored food reserves (endosperm). The seeds must land on a patch of soil containing a specific fungus that provides nutrients for germination and subsequent plant growth. Yellow Lady’s Slipper plants dug from the wild and transplanted into gardens rarely survive for very long due to the lack of this fungus.
Surveys are best conducted during flowering (April–June).
Yellow Lady’s Slipper occurred throughout most of eastern North America and is rare or unusual throughout its range. It once grew in much of the northern half of Georgia; it is now known mainly from the Blue Ridge mountain counties in northeast Georgia.
Logging, development, competition from exotic pest plants, digging by feral hogs, overbrowsing by deer, poaching.
Yellow Lady’s Slipper is ranked S3 by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, indicating that it is vulnerable to exptirpation within the state. It is listed as Rare by the State of Georgia. It once occurred in nearly all Piedmont and mountain counties. Habitat destruction and poaching have greatly reduced the number of populations, perhaps to fewer than 100. Most remaining sites are in the Chattahoochee National Forest.
Avoid logging on slopes and in rich forests. Eradicate exotic pest plants and feral hogs. Limit the size of Georgia’s deer population. Prosecute plant poachers. All Lady’s Slippers are rare or unusual and should never be dug from the woods. They depend on a local soil fungus for nutrients and rarely survive transplanting. Most Lady’s Slipper species are now available from nurseries; always inquire about the source of plants before buying.
Brown, P.M. and S.N. Folsom. 2004. Wild orchids of the southeastern United States, north of peninsular Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Case, M.A. 1993. High levels of allozyme variation within Cypripedium calceolus (Orchidaceae) and low levels of divergence among its varieties. Systematic Botany 18(4): 663-677. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2419540
Chafin, L.G. 2007. Field guide to the rare plants of Georgia. State Botanical Garden of Georgia and University of Georgia Press, Athens.
GADNR. 2020. Element occurrence records for Cypripedium parviflorum. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Social Circle, Georgia.
Horn, D., T. Cathcart, T.E. Hemmerly, and D. Duhl. 2005. Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the southern Appalachians. Lone Pine Publishing, Auburn, Washington.
NatureServe. 2007. Cypripedium parviflorum comprehensive report. NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia. http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Cypripedium%20parviflorum
Patrick, T.S., J.R. Allison, and G.A. Krakow. 1995. Protected plants of Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Program, Social Circle.
Sheviak, C.J. 2003. Species account for Cypripedium parviflorum. Flora of North America, Vol. 26. Oxford University Press, New York. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101544
Weakley, A.S. 2015. Flora of the southern and mid-Atlantic States. University of North Carolina Herbarium, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm
Linda G. Chafin
L. Chafin, Feb. 2007: original account
K. Owers, Jan. 2010: updated status and ranks, added pictures
L. Chafin, Feb 2020: updated original account
