YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER   Cypripedium calceolus	Also Called: American Valerian Indian's Shoe Ladies' Slipper Noah's Ark Nerve Root Umbel Whipporwill's Shoe Yellow Moccasin Flower

RANGE:  Throughout the Appalachians south to Alabama.  North-eastern N. America. HABITAT:  Swamps, rich woods, meadows and bogs.

DESCRIPTION:  This is a native American orchid.  A perennial, flowering from May to August.  Its flowers are scentless and are pollinated by insects, mostly bees.  There are several varieties of it, all of which possess similar medicinal properties.  Stem a foot or more high, usually several from the same root-stalk. Leaves broad-oval, acute, many-veined, clasping at base, three to six inches long by two to three inches broad. Flowers mostly solitary, rarely two to three on a plant; sepals long-lanceolate, two, the lower composed of two united either their entire length or at their tips; petals long, linear, twisted-wavy, spreading, and greenish like the sepals, marked with peculiar purple spots; lip gamboge-yellow, shorter than the greenish petals, one and a half to two inches long, with a narrow aperture, spotted inside, scentless. Whole plant covered with a soft pubescence. 

GROWING:   Lady slippers need a shaded woodland place to grow. They like moist acid soil.  They need the fungi that grows in their natural environment.  They grow naturally in Black Spruce bogs, in the Pine Barrens, and in under woodland oak and pines.  Growing from seeds is very hard, like other orchids.  Lady slipper's should be started in the fall from nursery plants. Plant the rhizomes 1-1 1/2 inches deep. Space them 1-2 feet apart.  Water them generously. Mulch lightly with dead leaves or pine needles.  Lady's slippers should not be moved.  The older the plant, the better the bloom.

Lady's Slipper has a high reputation for its sedative and relaxing effect on the nervous system.  The root is a pungent bitter-sweet herb with an unpleasant odor.  It was much used by Native Americans who used it as a sedative and antispasmodic to ease menstrual and labor pains and to counter insomnia and nervous tension.  However, this is a rare and threatened plant, and should be left alone in present day, as it has been over-harvested due to its beauty and rarity.

PART USED:  The Root. The root of Lady’s slipper used to be a specific remedy to overcome depression, mental anxiety, troubled sleep, nervous tension and headaches.  It was often recommended for women for both emotional and physical imbalances relating to menopause or menstruation.   The roots are harvested in the autumn, cleaned and carefully dried in the shade.   The have a slightly bitter, foul taste.  The active ingredients are not water soluble and so the root is best taken in the form of a tincture. WARNINGS:  Contact with the fresh plant can cause dermatitis in sensitive people.  Large doses can cause hallucinations.

AMERICAN FOLKLORE & HISTORIC REFERENCE

"Yellow lady slipper.  Decoction of the root used for worms in children.  In the liquid are placed some stalks of the common chickweed or purslane (Cerastium vulgatum) which, from the appearance of its red fleshy stalks, is supposed to have some connection with worms."  1885 Mooney CHEROKEE 327.

"Yellow lady's slipper...An infusion of the roots alone when one has lots of wind in the chest, or mixed with Dentaria in the treatment of tuberculosis, or with dandelion to relieve kidney trouble when one leans over too often."  1945 Rousseau MOHAWK transl. 69.

 

Valerian Root Officinalis 1 oz Valerian Root A/F 1 oz

Valerian Root Combo 100 cap Valerian Root 100 cap

Relax 1 oz Valerian Nighttime 100 tab

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