[Calypso Salisb. Par. Lond. pl. 89. 1807. Not Thouars. 1805.]

Bog herb, with a solid bulb and coralloid roots, the low 1-flowered scape sheathed by 2 or 3 loose scales and a solitary petioled leaf at the base. Flower large, showy, terminal, bracted. Sepals and petals similar, nearly equal. Lip large, saccate or swollen, 2-parted below. Column dilated, petal-like, bearing the lid-like anther just below the summit. Pol-linia 2, waxy, each 2-parted, without caudicles, sessile on a thick gland, the stigma at the base. [Surname of Venus.]

A monotypic species of the cooler portions of the north temperate zone.

1. Cytherea Bulbosa (L.) House. Calypso

Fig. 1410

Cypripedium bulbosum L. Sp. PI. 951. 1753. Calypso borcalis Salisb. Par. Lond. pl. 89. 1807. Calypso bulbosa Oakes, Cat. Vermont PI. 28. 1842. Cytherea bulbosa House, Bull. Torr. Club 32: 382. 1905.

Bulb 5" in diameter or less. Scape 3'-6' high; leaf round-ovate, 1-1 1/2 long, nearly as wide, obtusely pointed at the apex, rounded or subcordate at the base, the petiole l'-2' long; flowers variegated, purple, pink and yellow, the peduncle jointed; petals and sepals linear, erect or spreading, 5"-7" long with 3 longitudinal purple lines; lip large, saccate, 2-divided below, spreading or drooping, with a patch of yellow woolly hairs; column erect, broadly ovate, shorter than the petals; capsule about 1/2 long, many-nerved.

Labrador to Alaska, south to Maine, Michigan, California, and in the Rocky Mountains to Arizona. Also in Europe. Flower somewhat resembling that of a small Cypripedium. May-June.