Cypripedium tibeticum

[slipperfreak]

I just bought this plant the other day. I wasn't going to bother photographing it, but I had my camera out anyway so I thought, what the hay?

The plant was among a group of plants the seller (Shawn Hillis of Garden Slippers in Calgary) had purchased labeled as Cyp flavum. These have started to flower over the past week or so. They are immediately recognizable as NOT Cyp flavum, and we are pretty much sure that this one is tibeticum (the others that he still has probably are as well).

This plant doesn't look like an amazing example of tibeticum, probably because it is immature. The flower is fairly small, especially for tibeticum. The color is lighter than most tibeticum, but this is a variable species in terms of color. C. franchetii can be ruled out immediately because this plant has glabrous leaves, stem, and ovary. The flower color reminded me of C. froschii, but I believe the plant would be bigger and would have longer, slightly twisted petals if it were froschii. Unfortunately I don't have a formal description of froschii so I don't know any other details about that species to compare it with this. The fact that this plant is blooming on fairly young leaves is another big indication that it's tibeticum. However, the leaves have definitely developed more than a lot of tibeticums do at flowering time.

Anyway, I think it's pretty safe to say that it's a tibeticum, and hopefully future blooms will confirm this by giving me a bigger flower (and, less likely, darker color)! At any rate, it's a pretty plant and I'm glad I bought it. I hope you all enjoy this early glimpse of spring (especially those of us who still have snow on the ground...)