Botany Collection - Showy Lady’s-slipper, Cypripedium reginae

Living Up to its Name

Truly regal, as its scientific name suggests, the Showy lady’s-slipper has won many admirers over the years. Charles Darwin is among those who have tried unsuccessfully to cultivate this rare beauty. Little wonder that he made the effort – the large white and pale pink slippers, suffused with purple or magenta, are magnificent. This plant prefers wetter locations than do Nova Scotia’s other lady’s-slipper orchids. Never common, it can be found in alkaline bogs stretching from Hants County northeastwards to northern Victoria County in Cape Breton. This wax model, now quite brittle, was made in the 1950s by Marchand Brothers of Buffalo, New York.