Sign in Start free
Species library › Cypripedium › Cypripedium acaule
Orchids Well documented

Cypripedium acaule

The pink lady's slipper of eastern North America, a cold-climate terrestrial orchid of acidic pine and oak woods. It is notoriously hard in cultivation: the keys are a very acidic, lean, freely draining medium, bright dappled shade, and a true cold winter dormancy.

Cypripedium acaule
Photo: Sasata (edited by Noodle snacks, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Dry to moist acidic woodland, especially pine and mixed pine-oak forest on sandy soil, but also deciduous woods, bog edges and well-drained slopes. It grows in the duff layer under a broken canopy.

Mostly lowland to low montane: recorded elevations reach about 880 m, median about 150 m, higher along the Appalachians.

Eastern United StatesAppalachians south to Georgia and AlabamaGreat LakesNew EnglandEastern and central CanadaNewfoundlandNorthwest Territories

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Cypripedium acaule? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Start free Sign in

More Cypripedium

Cypripedium candidum Cypripedium arietinum Cypripedium parviflorum Cypripedium reginae Cypripedium calceolus Cypripedium formosanum Cypripedium macranthos Cypripedium passerinum Cypripedium tibeticum Cypripedium guttatum Cypripedium kentuckiense Cypripedium fasciculatum All 62 →

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.