Medicinal Monday - Delicate and Endangered - PinkLady Slippers

The Pink Lady Slipper is one of the wild orchids that are native to North America. Pink Lady Slippers are the tallest native northern orchid and many believe it is the most beautiful.  Native Americans had many interesting uses for this delicate pink, a flower that even inspired a Native American folktale.

About the Pink Lady Slippers

Pink Lady Slippers, Cypripedium acaule, bloom from May to July and are usually found in Connecticut in the wet woods, among sphagnum ferns, as well as in bogs and shady swamps.  The plant only grows from six to fifteen inches high and is usually pink in color.  It takes many years for this orchid to grow and develop into a mature plant.  Like all orchid species, they depend on symbiosis to grow and thrive. They extract a fungus found in the soil that passes on nourishment that enables this plant to grow and survive. When it is mature, the fungus extracts nutrients from the roots of the Lady Slipper.  If left undisturbed, Lady Slippers will propagate and live for many years. The plant consists of a stout, hairy, leafy stalk with elliptical, heavily ribbed, and hairy leaves. The plant bears one large flower that has six parts including a pouch called a labellum. The flowers left undisturbed will last between seven and fourteen days. 

Medicinal Uses

The Algonquin used a decoction of the roots to treat menstrual disorders, as a urinary aid,  and to treat stomach aches. The Cherokee make an infusion of the roots of the lady slipper plant for neuralgia pain as well as for spasms and fits.  An infusion of roots is used to treat colds and the flu. The Iroquois used a decoction of this flower that is taken as a blood medicine for fever and for pains all over the skin and body. A poultice of the plant was made and used to treat the bite of a mad dog. The Meskwaki make a compound of the root and use it as a love medicine.  The Micmac and the Penobscot use a tincture of the root as a sedative, and the Rappahannock mix a compound of the dried root with whiskey to treat general ailments.

Did You Know...

If you pick a Lady Slipper it will not rejuvenate.  This plant has less than a 5% transplant rate of success.

Some species of Lady Slippers are categorized as endangered in New England.

Regulations regarding picking Lady Slippers vary from state to state but in general, picking these precious flowers is discouraged and in some states illegal.

Lady Slippers became the state flower of Minnesota in 1902 where they were displayed on church alters until it became illegal to pick them in 1925.

In 2009, the Green Mountain National Forest Staff in Vermont discovered a historic population of more than 1,000 Lady Slippers not seen since 1902.