Common Name:

General Information

Cypripedium elegans is a herbeceous perennial plant plant spreading slowly by means of slender creeping rhizomes to form a clump. It produces 2 leaves on each erect flowering stem, growing around 10 - 15cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for use as a medicine. It is grown as an ornamental.
Cypripedium elegans is known only from a few scattered populations, where it is mostly in small colonies. The population trend overall is decreasing, and the species is under numerous threats especially from overgrazing, collection for medicine and horticulture, habitat loss and disturbance of its restricted range due to trampling, deforestation, clear-cutting, logging practices and climate change. These are causing a continuing decline of the species in all of its five known locations, and the destruction of some subpopulations. The plant is classified as 'Endangered' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2014)[].

Known Hazards

We have seen no reports for Eurasian members of the genus, but there are reports that the glandular hairs on the leaves and stems of some N. American species can cause a rash, similar to poison ivy rash[].
We have no specific information for this species, but it has been stated that the roots of at least one member of the genus may cause psychedelic reactions, and large doses may result in giddiness, restlessness, headache, mental excitement and visual hallucinations[].

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - Himalayan regions from India and Tibet to northwest Yunnan

Habitat

Humus-rich habitats on the edge of forests or in thickets, on steep slopes, bogs, bamboo clearings, valley bottoms; at elevations around 3,600 - 3,700 metres[, ].

Properties

Conservation Status	Endangered
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.10 m
Pollinators	Bees, Insects
Self-fertile	Yes
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Prefers wet limestone openings and humus rich substrates in shady woods under birch and willow[].
Orchids are, in general, shallow-rooting plants of well-drained low-fertility soils. Their symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the soil allows them to obtain sufficient nutrients and be able to compete successfully with other plants. They are very sensitive to the addition of fertilizers or fungicides since these can harm the symbiotic fungus and thus kill the orchid[].
The flowers of Cypripedium species belong to the group of 'trap' flowers. An insect as it crawls in, can only escape from the slipper-like labellum through a tunnel near the base of the labellum from where it is directed first to the nearby stigma where possible pollinia from another flower on its back are stripped off and while escaping, sticky pollen from the nearby anthers adhere to its back for the pollination of another flower[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The root is used to treat disorders of the nervous system. It is used as a nerve tonic and also in the treatment of hysteria, spasms, fits, insanity, and epilepsy[]. It is also used to treat rheumatism in the Himalayan region[]

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - surface sow, preferably as soon as it is ripe, in the greenhouse and do not allow the compost to dry out. The seed of this species is extremely simple, it has a minute embryo surrounded by a single layer of protective cells. It contains very little food reserves and depends upon a symbiotic relationship with a species of soil-dwelling fungus. The fungal hyphae invade the seed and enter the cells of the embryo. The orchid soon begins to digest the fungal tissue and this acts as a food supply for the plant until it is able to obtain nutrients from decaying material in the soil[]. It is best to use some of the soil that is growing around established plants in order to introduce the fungus, or to sow the seed around a plant of the same species and allow the seedlings to grow on until they are large enough to move.
Division with care in early spring, the plants resent disturbance[]. Remove part of the original rootball, making sure to keep some of the soil around it intact[].
Division is best carried out towards the end of the growing season, since food reserves are fairly evenly distributed through the rhizome[]. Small divisions of a lead and two buds, or divisions from the back (older) part of the rhizome without any developed buds, establish quickly using this method[]. Replant immediately in situ[].