Capripedium

The name Venus's shoe,or lady's slipper ,has alredy been used in this book to describe other orchids :botanists also use it to refer to the terreestrial genera Paphiopedilum and Phragmipedium .These genera are not very closely related to Capripedium,but they do share some features : a very similar shoe-spike shape of their flower spike and ,above all ,one crucial morphological detail -their flowers feature two functional stamens (in contrast to an overwhelming majority of other orchids that have only one stamen ). This quality secures all these three genera relatively special position among orchids of the world and scientists are not unanimous on whether these plants can be considered ''pureblooded ''Orchidaceae or if they ought to be excluded in to an independent family .

Be it as it may ,Capripedium Venus's shoe are beautiful terrestrial orchids with usually very showy and large flowers . A vast majority of them grow inthe Temperate and Cool Zones and their growth is therefore seasonal .They survive the harshest times of the year with the help of their thick ,trailing and intensely branched rhizomes. Every year ,the apical buds of the rhizome give rise to stems bearing staggered lanceolate foliage. The axils of the apical leaf susequently gives rise to a single (rarely 2-3)flower,1.6 -4.8 /4-12 cm in diameter. As with all other orchids ,the tepals are arranged in two circles : the two lateral tepals in the outer circle are grown together in to one two -pointed tepal positioned under the lip. The third tepal is oval -to-egg-shaped and pointed upward ;the lateral inner tepals project to the sides and complement the showy ,pouched lip resembling a baby's shoe.

Cypripedium orchids ' flowers with complicated morphology are typical representatives of ''trap flowers ''.Imprisoned in the inner structure of the flower,the polinators -usually flying insects-are forced to move about in such a way that will guarantee pollination. At first ,the insect is allured by the showy color of the flower. After landing on the smooth edge of the lip,it slips and slides down in to the pouch . After vain attempts to climb back up on the concave , it is enticed by the light of the two apparent openings on the lateral walls near the base of the lip. On the way to the source of the light ,th einsect has to climb through a zone of ''brittle hairs'' until it finally catches sight of genuine light in the real ''emergency exits''. Right before leaving the flower ,it rubs aganist the sticky pollen on the another. When the pollinator pays an involuntary visit to another flower,it touches the drooping stigma,rubs the pollen on it and only then picks up a new ''load ''of pollen on the stamens.

The development of the seedlings of Venus's shoes,from the germination of the seeds to the first flowering ,takes approximately 9-10 ,but oftern even 13-15 years!.Since the vegetative propagation is very inefficiently sowing in vitro method tends to fail under cultivation,the natural habitats of many attractive species around the world are almost completely ransacked .The species grown in garden cultivation include C.calceolus and C.macranthum ,but mainly the North American speciesC reginae,C.parviflorum ,C. acaule and C. arietinum ,the Japanese species C. debile ,C. cordigerum . Some Cypripedia orchids entirely unknown to botanists and cultivators ,including miniature unifoliate sepcies ,have recently been repeatedly imported from China.

Species of the genus Cypripedium are not ecologically overly specialized and can therefore be found in various biotopes,including lighter deciduous ,semi-deciduous and coniferous forests ,bushy and rocky hillsides ,and infertile meadows in altitudes ranging from lowlands to alphine elevations . As they inhabits only the Temperate and Cold Zones in the Northern Hemisphere ,their flowering takes place mostly between May and July . The tottal number of Cypripedium orchids is about 50, only three of them grow in Europe . Of these ,the species Cypripedium calceolus plays ''first fiddle'',as it is widespread practically all over the continent (and Asia ,including Japan )and also because it has no peer among all the other European orchids in the size and beauty of its 3.2 -in /8 cm across or smaller ,bizare flowers . The other two Cypripedia grow only on the very edge of Europe -in Russia. All the representatives of the Cypripedium genus inhabit (with one Mexican exception ) the aforementioned cooler zone of the Northern Hemisphere.