Compendium

Yellow lady's slipper is an orchid native to North America, ranging from Alaska south to Arizona and Georgia, in fens, wetlands, shorelines and damp woodland. Each stem usually bears a single flower, one of whose petals is swollen into a slipper-like pouch, with three thin, twisted sepals reaching out to either side; in this species the sepals are purplish and the leaves climb the stem. It is a highly variable species, and many authors treat its large-flowered variety as a species of its own, Cypripedium pubescens. An Ojibwe legend tells that the plant first grew from the moccasin prints left in the snow by a young woman who made a hard journey to bring medicine home to her village. The Ojibwe and other peoples from the upper Midwest to the Northeast used it medicinally: the Meskwaki as a love medicine, the Menominee to bring dreams of the supernatural. European settlers in North America took it up as a substitute for valerian. Lady's slippers need very particular habitats and are difficult to grow, and they are counted endangered in some areas, so a supplier's reputation is worth checking. In magic the plant is chiefly protective, carried in sachets to guard against hexes, curses, spells and the evil eye, and it is also linked to love, peace and dream work.