Cypripedium candidum

The small white lady's slipper of wet calcareous prairies and fens in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes. A fully winter-dormant, sun-loving terrestrial orchid that needs constantly moist, alkaline soil and a real freezing winter; it is a bog-garden plant, not a windowsill one.

At home, aim for

Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Wet to mesic sedge-dominated prairies, meadows and fens on calcareous till, clay or marl, where the soil stays moist through spring. It grows in open, sparse vegetation in full or nearly full sun.

Recorded at 191–430 m (median 299 m); a lowland plant of glaciated plains.

MinnesotaWisconsinIowaIllinoisMichiganOhioIndianaNew YorkNorth DakotaSouth DakotaNebraskaMissouriKentuckyManitobaOntario

🔒 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 candidum? 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 arietinum Cypripedium acaule 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.