Rchb.f.
Description
Cypripedium elegans Rchb.f. is a diminutive lady's-slipper orchid of the eastern Himalaya, recorded by GBIF from India, Nepal, Bhutan and China across some 59 occurrences. It is a plant of cool, humid high-altitude habitats, growing in mossy alpine and subalpine scrub, beneath Rhododendron and dwarf bamboo, and on shaded humus-rich banks, generally between about 3000 and 4000 m. The individual photographed at Tsochenchen in Bhutan at around 3600 m in June, early in the alpine season, reflects its preference for sheltered, perennially moist sites with deep leaf litter and a stable cool microclimate.
The plant arises from a short creeping rhizome and produces a slender, low erect stem bearing usually two broadly elliptic to ovate, plicate, prominently veined leaves that are held more or less opposite or subopposite near the top of the stem. The single nodding flower is small for the genus; the dorsal sepal and the synsepal (the fused lateral sepals) are ovate and the petals narrow, the whole pale yellowish-green to greenish, often faintly marked. The labellum is modified into the characteristic inflated, slipper-shaped pouch that traps and temporarily detains pollinating insects, which exit past the staminode and stigma, effecting pollination.
Cypripedium belongs to subfamily Cypripedioideae, the slipper orchids, marked by their two fertile anthers and saccate lip. Cypripedium elegans is one of the smallest and most delicate Himalayan members of the genus. It is uncommon, slow to establish, and like all Cypripedium it is highly sensitive to collection and habitat disturbance; the genus is listed on CITES Appendix II and several species are of conservation concern. Its restricted high-Himalayan range makes it a notable narrow-altitude alpine specialist.
Author: Rchb.f. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of Bhutan, Flora of China, Cribb monograph The Genus Cypripedium, Pearce and Cribb Orchids of Bhutan