Cypripedium calcicola

A lady's slipper orchid from the limestone mountains of southwest China, with dark maroon-purple slippers. It is a cold-hardy terrestrial that needs a real frozen winter dormancy and a cool, moist monsoon summer, and it is rarely grown successfully.

At home, aim for

Day Cool-growingTargets 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

Open forest, forest margins, scrub and grassy slopes on limestone, typical of the alpine Cypripedium of Yunnan and Sichuan. Detail is generalised from its name, the measured sites and its close relatives.

Literature gives roughly 2,600–3,900 m; one climate site is at about 3,770 m and another near 1,950 m.

YunnanSichuanChina

🔒 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

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.