The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits

by Mary Elizabeth Parsons

MOTTLED SWAMP-ORCHIS. FALSE LADY'S SLIPPER.

Epipactis gigantea, Dougl. Orchis Family.

Rootstock.—Creeping. Stems.—Leafy; one to four feet high. Leaves.—Alternate; sessile; clasping; ovate below; lanceolate above; three to eight inches long. Flowers.—Three to ten; in terminal racemes; greenish, veined with purple. Sepals.—Three; petaloid; lanceolate; an inch or less long. Petals.—The two upper about equaling the sepals. The lip concave; saccate; eared at base; with a jointed, pendulous tip. Anther.—One; sessile upon the top of the column. Ovary.—One-celled. Hab.—Throughout California.

The casual observer usually alludes to this plant as a "lady's slipper," and he is not so very far wrong, for it is closely related to the Cypripedium, and resembles it much in habit, in the aspect of its leafy stems, and in the general form of its blossom. But instead of having its lip in the form of a sac, it is open and curiously jointed, the lower portion swinging freely, as upon a hinge. When this lid is raised, one can fancy some winged seraph or angel enshrined within, but when lowered the semblance is more to a monk bowed in meditation.

These beautiful plants will be found abundantly fringing our streams in June and July, and the disciples of dear old Isaac Walton who then pass down the stream with rod and line are usually attracted by their quietly elegant colors. Dull purples and greens predominate, though the lip is tinged with orange or yellow.

In Northern California and Oregon is occasionally found a rare and curious plant—the "phantom orchis," Cephalanthera Oregana, Richenb.f. This plant is white and ghostlike throughout, has stems a foot or two high, but no leaves—only three to five scarious sheathing bracts. Its blossoms are very similar in size and shape to those of Epipactis gigantea.

I have never had the pleasure of finding this floral oddity myself; but one season a friend sent me the only plant which was found in a thicket near a pretty camp upon the Sacramento River, in the Shasta region.

[FALSE LADY'S SLIPPER—Epipactis gigantea.]