Horticulture 211 - Lady Slippers
Plant Schience 211, Fall 2010
North Dakota State University
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The Lady Slipper (Cypripedium reginae)
Hello, and welcome to Horticulture 211's Lady Slipper page!! This page is meant to be an aid in helping you understand the Minnesota State flower. I'm sure once your know more about it, it will be quite obvious why we chose it as our state flower. In addition, I want this to teach you how to identify it, and point in the right direction on where to look for it.
Background:
The Pink and White Lady Slipper is the state flower of Minnesota, and it has been since 1902. In the early 20th century, the Lady Slipper was a favorite adornment in rural church altars during the summer, but in 1925 it became state law that this rare wildflower cannot be picked, uprooted, or unearthed. Although it produces a considerably large amount of seeds, very few of them germinate. This is because the seeds do not have any cotyledons (food source) and need to come in contact with a beneficial fungus to grow. It also takes up to 16 years for this flower to start flowering. These two factors make the Lady Slipper very rare, and pleasure for not only for flower enthusiasts, but all outdoorsmen.